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Of  the   Church    Quilding,  and    the 


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On  October  2  and   3,    1597. 


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PRESS    OF    WM.    J.    MOLOEN,    SOUTHINGTON.    CONN. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


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Celebration  of  the 


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Of  the  Church  IJuilding,  and  the 


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On  October  2   and  3,    1597. 


The    Xewington    Congregational    Church    and    Additions,    1897. 


(Other  of   3>en>t£B0  for   (October  2nb,  1897. 

A\orning    at    10:30. 
Voluntary. 

Invocation.  Rev.  J.  W.  ( looper. 

Hymn  929,  Music,  Duke  Street,  By  the  Congregation. 

Greeting,  By  Pastor.  Rev.  Berber!  Macy. 

Hraternal    Salutations. 
From  Eartford  Theological  Seminary,    Pres.  C.  D.  Hartranft. 

^  Wethersfield,  Rev.  W.  M.  linker. 

Sister  Churches  Farmington,  Rev.  Geo.  L.Clark. 

f  Eartford,  Firsl  Church,  Rev.  C.  M.  Lamson. 
Anthem.  By  Choir. 

Papers    Relating    to    the    Early    Church. 
Tlic  Two  Meeting  Houses,  Id^vr  Welles. 

Alterations  of  present  Meeting  House,  Dea.  Levi  S.  Deming. 
Music  of  the  Church  in  early  days,  John  CI.  Stoddard. 

Collation  and  Social  Hour  from  12:30  to  2:30. 

Afternoon    Meeting A    Memorial    Service. 

Anthem,  By  Choir. 

Prayer.  Rev.  J.  0.  Barrows. 

Addresses. 

The  First  Pastor.  Rev.  Elisha  Williams.  1720-1726, 

Rev.  C.   E.  Williams. 
The  Second   Pastor.  Rev.  Simon  Backus.  L726-1746, 

Oswald  P.  Backus. 
The  Third  Pastor.  Rev.  -Joshua  Belden.  1747-1803, 

Joshua  Belden. 
1 1  \  inn  1162,  By  the  Congregation. 

The  Fourth  Pastor.  Rev.  Joab  Brace.  L805-1855, 

Reminiscences  by  several  members  of  the  Congregation. 
Anthem.  By  Choir. 

The  Fifth  Pastor.  Rev.  W.  P.  Aikin.    L857-1867, 

E.  Stanley  Welles. 

The  Seventh  Pastor.  Rev.  W.  .1.  Thomson.  L875-1879, 

John  S.  Kirkham. 

Rev,  John  E.  Elliott.  L879-1884,  .Mi^s  Agnes  W.  Belden. 


2012460 


Sunoarj,     (Dctober     orb,     1897. 


/doming    Service    at    10:30   O'clock, 


Voluntary. 

Invocation, 

The  Ancient  Covenant. 

Anthem, 

Scripture  Lesson. 

Prayer, 

Offertory. 

Hymn, 

Historical  Sermon, 

Hymn, 

Benediction. 


Rev.  J.  O.  Barrows. 

By  Choir. 

Rev.  Sanford  S.  Martyn. 

By  the  Congregation. 

Rev.  Herbert  Macy. 

By  the  Congregation. 


Short  Session  of  the  Sunday  School  immediately  after 
morning  service,  with  paper  on  the  Sunday  School  by 

Deacon  C.  K.  Atwood. 


Evening    Service    at    7    O'clock. 
The  Eunoean  Society,  Mrs.  F.  C.  Latimer. 


Addresses    by 
The  Sixth  Pastor,  Rev.  Sanford  S.  Martyn,  1868-1870. 


— AND- 


The  Eighth  Pastor, 


Rev.  J.  O.  Barrows,  1885-1891. 


Newington's    Celebration. 

1722    Church    Organized.  1797    Church    Built. 

[from  the  religious  herald.] 


Beautiful  for  situation,  neat,  cosy  and  furnished 
with  pipe  organ,  a  light  and  bright  chapel  with  up- 
right piano,  infant  class  room  with  cabinet  organ, 
parlor,  kitchen,  and  dining  room,  the  Newing- 
ton  church  presented  an  inviting  appearance,  for 
under  the  tasteful  fingers  of  Mrs.  Joshua  Belden  and 
her  helpers  the  woods  and  gardens  lent  their  beauty 
and  fragrance  to  the  scene,— clematis,  golden  rod.  and 
ferns,  marigolds,  chrysanthemums,  yellow  roses,  and  pot- 
ted palms.  A  beautiful  white  silk  banner  with  gold 
fringe  and  heavy  gold  tassels  stood  at  one  side  of  the 
desk,  inscribed  in  jeweled  letters,  "The  Lord  our  God 
be  with  us,  as  he  was  with  our  fathers, "  and  on  the 
other   side   a   motto,    "  1722-1797-1897; " 

The  exercises  lasted  two  days,  and  were  of  deep 
and  uniform  interest,  even  to  a  stranger.  The  pastor, 
Rev.  Herbert  Macy,  who,  as  one  of  his  parishioners 
said,  "has  never  preached  a  dull  sermon,"  presided. 
gave  greeting,  and  preached  the  historical  sermon.  The 
music,  planned  by  the  organist,  Mrs.  Ellen  S.  Deming, 
Mrs.  Macy  and  Mrs.  Arthur  Merrill,  embraced  some 
grand  old  anthems  and  hymns.  The  Newington  peo- 
ple, who  are  wonderfully  polite  and  well  bred,  outdid 
themselves   in   hospitality   and    courtesy    to    their    guests. 

President  C.  D.  Hartranft  of  the  Hartford  semin- 
ary, where  Mr.  Macy  graduated,  congratulated  the  church 
on  its  maintenance  of  the  holy  faith,  ami  the  small 
number  of  its  pastors — nine  settled  pastors  in  175 
years. 

Rev.  Wm.  M.  Baker,  as  pastor  of  the  mother 
church  at  Wethersfield,  gave  greeting.  Rev.  George 
L.  Clark,  of  Farmington,  in  a  witty  and  charming 
speech,  referred  to  Isaac  Watts  as  the  patron  saint  of 
Newington  and  quoted,  "Let  dogs  delight  to  bark  and 
bite. "    and    other   of   his   poems. 

Dr.    Lamson,     as     pastor     of     the     oldest     church     in 


6  COXGKEdATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

Connecticut,  gave  Mr.  Macy  the  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship. Dr.  Lanison  said  his  father  received  200  cents 
from  an  aunt  for  committing  200  of  Isaac  Watt's  hymns. 
and  afterward  some  one  of  the  family  killed  a  dog  and 
borrowed  the  $2  to  pay  a  lawyer  to  shield  him  from 
the  consequence  of  his  crime,  and  never  returned  it. 
Dr.  Lamson  suggested  the  idea  of  a  society  of  the  colon- 
ial church.  The  secret  of  Dr.  Lamson's  popularity  lies 
deeper  than  his  rare  ability,  even  his  kindliness  of  heart, 
winch  never  varies. 

The  rendering  of  the  grand  old  anthem,  "  Before  Jeho- 
vah's awful  throne,  "  by  the  choir  was  fine.  Roger  Welles 
had  prepared  two  valuable  papers  on  the  two  meetinghouses, 
both  of  which  we  publish,  but,  owing  to  lack  of  time,  he 
deemed  it  advisable  to  read  only  the  second.  The  dissen- 
sions of  the  fathers  concerning  the  site  of  the  present 
structure  caused  much  amusement.  The  aged  Dea.  Levi  S. 
Deming,  a  former  resident,  but  now  of  Middletown,  was  wise- 
ly chosen  to  rehearse  the  various  changes  of  the  edifice,  from 
its  cold  and  bare  but  reverently  loved  room,  to  its  present 
modern  and  comfortable  auditorium. 

Two  hours  were  now  delightfully  spent  in  greetings  and 
feasting,  after  which  came  the  "Music  of  the  Church  in 
early  days, "  by  John  G.  Stoddard.  Words  would  fail  to 
picture  the  indescribable  charm  of  this  paper. 

Rev.  C.  H.  Williams  gave  a  somewhat  lengthy,  extem- 
poraneous address  on  the  first  pastor,  Rev.  Elisha  Williams, 
which  was  listened  to  with  unflagging  attention  and  interest. 

Oswald  P.  Backus  of  Rome,  N.  Y.,  a  man  of  finished 
and  scholarly  appearance,  gave  an  interesting  paper  on  his 
ancestor,  Rev.  Simon  Backus,  the  second  pastor,  who  served 
Newington  for  20  years. 

Joshua  Belden,  the  fourth,  of  Newington,  great-grand- 
son of  Rev.  Joshua  Belden,  the  third  pastor,  who  served  in 
this  field  from  his  23rd  year  until  he  was  79,  and  then  as 
pastor  emeritus  for  ten  years  more,  gave  a  brief  and  excellent 
paper. 

The  interest  of  the  day  centered  aboutthe  reminiscences 
of  the  fourth  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Joab  Brace,  by  Dea.  Levi  S. 
Deming.  It  was  a  sight  long  to  be  remembered,  the  aged 
man  standing  with  the  glorious  light  of  the  autumnal  day 
ahont  him  and  the  large  audience,  every  face  showing  strong 
feeling  as  the  speaker  depicted  the  wonderful  life  of  the  man 
whom  he  had  loved  with  a  reverent  affection.  Although  not 
as  historically  valuable,  it  was  the  gem  of  the  day. 


NEWINGTON,     r<  >NNi;<TICUT,     IH'.n.  7 

•J.  S.  Kirkham  Followed  with  a  brief  address  showing 
Dr.  Brace's  Influence  in  the  schools,  in  which  Mr.  Kirkham 
was  a  Eormer  teacher;  also  speaking  of  Dr.  Brace's  eccentric 
abruptness. 

Father  Kemp's  "Jerusalem,  my  happy  home"  was  well 
sung  by  the  choir. 

E.  Stanley  Welles'  paper  on  the  tilth  pastor.  Rev.  W.  P. 
Aikin.  was  choice,  and  we  take  pleasure  in  giving  it  to  you 
that  it  may  speak  for  itself;  as  also  the  paper  on  the  seventh 
pastor  by  -John  S.  Kirkham. 

Miss  Agnes  W.  Belden's  paper  on  Rev.  John  E.  Elliotl 
had  not  a  superfluous  word.  It  was  now  past  five,  and  thus 
closed  an  eventful  day  in  the  church's  history.  Letters  of 
regrel  were  read  from  Rev.  Dr.  Cooper  of  New  Britain,  Rev. 
Cyrus  W.  Francis  of  Brookfield  Center  and  ex-President 
Grover  Cleveland,  whose  ancestor  once  preached  at  Newing- 
ton.  and  others. 

Sunday  bright  and  beautiful  drew  together  a  large  au- 
dience to  listen  to  Rev.  Mr.  Macy's  historical  address.  All 
were  satisfied,  as  our  readers  will  understand  when  they  rend 
The  Religious  Herald.  Mr.  Macy  has  an  interesting  fam- 
ily of  bright  little  ones  and  Mrs.  Macy  is  a  true  helpmeet  in 
every  good  work. 

Xewington  Sunday  school  is  large  and  prosperous,  Jos- 
hua Belden,  superintendent.  We  regret  that  lack  of  space 
which  compels  us  to  omit  the  paper  on  the  Sunday  school, 
by  Dea.  C.  K.  At  wood,  former  superintendent. 

Revs.  S.  S.  Martyn  of  Derby  and  J.  O.  Barrows  of  tin- 
Road  church.  Stonington,  former  pastors,  occupied  positions 
of  prominence  and  made  addresses.  Sunday  evening  Mrs.  F. 
C.  Latimer  described  the  Euncean  benevolent  society  named 
by  Mary  Brace. 

The  representative  of  The  Religious  Herald  voices 
the  general  sentiment  of  gratitude  at  the  friendly  hospitality 
and  genuine  courtesy  shown  by  the  Newington  people  to 
their  guests. 

COMMITTEES. 

Executive  Committee — Rev.  Herbert  Macy,  Bogei  Welles,  J.  S. 
Kirkham. 

Invitation  Committee. — E.  Stanley  Welles,  Miss  Agnes  W.  Belden, 
Alfred  B.  Fish. 

Floral  Committee  -  Mrs.  Joshua  Belden,  Mrs.  A.  P.  Francis,  Mis. 
A.  H.  Merrill,   Mrs.    Ellen  Deniin^. 


8  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH    ANNIVERSARIES. 

Entertainment  Committee — F.  C.  Latimer,  J.  Belden,  George  W. 
Seymour,  H.  L.   Kellogg,   Elberi  W.  Atwood. 

COLLATION  Committee  -Mrs.  A.  II.  Merrill,  Mrs.  M.  L.  Stoddard, 
Mr-,   c.    L.   Roliliins,   Mrs.  II.   M.  Robbing,   Mrs.  Joanna  Luce. 

Mrsic  Committee — Mrs.  Ellen  S.  Deniing,  Mrs.  Herbert  Macy,  Mrs. 
Arthur  Merrill. 

DELEGATES. 

Hartford  Theological  Seminary — Pres.  Dr.  Hartranft. 

Berlin — Mr.  ami  Mrs.   Wm.  Webster. 

MxBXDBN—  First,  T.  W.  Kilbourne,  H.  A.  Curtis  ;  Center,  Rev.  John 
H.  Grant,  Mrs.  G.  Crittenden,  Mrs.  C.  N.  Winslow. 

Middletown — Third,  Rev.   D.  B.   Hubbard. 

Kensington — Mr.   and  Mrs.  L.  J.  Peck. 

Farmington— Rev.  Geo.  L.  Clark,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  W.  Buckus,  Mrs.  Lucy 
Woodruff. 

Hartford — First,  Rev.  Dr.  C.  M.  Lamson,  Dea.  Roland  Swift  ; 
South,  Rev.  Magee  Pratt. 

New  Britain — First,  Rev.  M.  B.  Boardman,  Cornelius  Andrews  ; 
South,  J.  H.  Kirkham,  Mrs    M.  R.  Eddy. 

Rocky  Hill — Rev.   H.  H.  Davies,    Mrs.  Louis  Griswold. 

Wethersfield — Rev.  W.  M.  Baker,  S.  Frank  Willard,  F.  A.  Griswold. 

West  Hartford — Henry  C.  Butler,   Wm.   H.   Hall. 

Wallingford — Rev.  J.  J.  Blair,  A.  D.  Judd. 

Plantsville — Geo.  F.  Smith,  H.  D.  Smith. 


NT.WIXGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  13 

Measure  the  significance  <>i'  this  period  by  the  march  of 
ecclesiastical  events  and  we  conclude  that  this  lias  been  a 
marvelous  period  in  the  history  of  Christendom.  The  de- 
velopment of  modern  missionary  activity  all  falls  within 
this  period.  The  founding  of  the  American  Board  and  its 
first  meeting  in  the  parsonage  of  Dr.  Porter  of  Farmington, 
during  Dr.  Brace's  pastorate,  brought  this  church  into 
touch  with  the  movement  for  evangelizing  the  nations  and  it 
has  kept  in  touch  and  in  generous  support  of  that  movement 
ever  since.  The  organization  of  the  Sunday  school;  rich  dis- 
coveries in  sacred  antiquities,  by  which  our  knowledge  of  the 
original  Scriptures  has  been  wonderfully  increased  and  threat 
stimulus  given  to  Bible  study:  the  birth  of  the  scientific 
spirit,  with  its  passion  for  truth;  the  expansion  of  the  con- 
ception of  the  church's  mission  in  the  world  and  its  ready 
adaptation  to  every  new  need, — all  these  things  fall  within 
this  period.  The  men  and  women  of  this  church  who  have 
come  and  gone  here  have  been  identified  with  them  and  giv- 
en a  large  hospitality  and  loyal  support  to  every  change  that 
promised  to  speed  on  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Changing  our  gaze  now  from  this  wide  range  and  fixing 
it  upon  the  local  history,  it  seems  as  if  here  it  was  nothing 
but  change  that  we  saw.  Everything  appears  in  a  state  of 
flux.  The  fathers,  where  are  they  ?  Where  are  their  church, 
their  forms  of  worship,  their  methods  of  activity  ?  We  often 
say.  they  would  not  know  the  place,  should  they  come  back 
to  it.  They  would  be  strangers  in  this  building  they  erected, 
as  much  as  if  they  had  never  lived  here,  could  they  step  into 
it  now. 

There  is  not  time  to  detail  the  history  and  it  has  been 
well  done  by  others.  My  purpose  is  to  select  certain  changes 
through  which  the  church  has  passed  and  see  how  within  all 
there  were  certain  essential  and  undying  elements.  This  is  a 
church  of  the  living  God.  If  it  be  a  live  church,  it  will 
change.  But  it  is  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth  and  so 
through  all  the  changes,  the  truth  will  abide.  There  will  be 
an  element  of  permanency  and  unity,  underneath  and  surviv- 
ing every  change. 

First  (to  begin  with  that  which  is  most  external),  this 
building  has  changed  and  its  changes  but  mark  the  other 
changes  of  the  organism.  The  first  church  was  but  a  rough, 
unplastered.  barn-like  structure,  and  from  the  first  there  has 
been  a  steady  evolution  in  the  form  and  adaptations  of  the 
two  buildings  till  we  have  this  well-appointed,  tasteful  edi- 
fice.    There  is   an   advantage    in   a   history  like  ours   over 


H  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

churches  recently  organized,  in  that  we  can  see,  step  by  step. 
the  successive  improvements.     When  a  church  is  organized 

to-day.  it  starts  off  with  all  the  things  which  have  come  to 
this  church  slowly  and  at  great  cost.  It  is  just  Like  the 
young  couples  to-day.  who  want  to  begin  where  their  parents 
ended,  in  the  possession  of  every  modern  convenience.  But 
this  church  got  its  good  tilings  in  the  old-fashioned  way,  lit- 
tle by  little.  Why,  they  did  not  even  have  a  pulpit  and 
deacons'  seat  when  Mr.  Williams  began  his  ministrations. 
And  for  some  time  the  galleries  were  unfinished  and  there 
were  no  windows  in  the  upper  story. 

And  when  the  church  was  organized,  "  that  solemnity," 
as  Dr.  Brace  would  say,  was  in  an  unfurnished  building. 
For  80  years  it  was  the  spiritual  home  of  this  people.  The 
snow  sifted  through  the  cracks,  the  swallows  built  their  nests 
and  twittered  under  the  eaves.  The  building  that  followed 
was  not  much  what  it  is  to-day.  For  years  it  knew  no  heat 
except  that  from  the  living  bodies  of  the  worshipers.  Those 
were  the  days  when  in  winter  the  sermon  could  not  only  be 
heard;  it  could  be  seen  pouring  forth  from  the  preacher's 
lips  in  wreaths  of  warm  mist,  that  penetrated  the  frosty  air. 
The  communion  bread  would  sometimes  freeze  on  the  plates. 
Judge Sewall,  in  his  diary,  pathetically  records,  "The  com- 
munion bread  was  frozen  pretty  hard  and  rattled  sadly  into 
the  plates.  " 

And  yet  with  all  their  uncouth  surroundings,  their  dis- 
comforts, the  icy  temperature,  the  old  meeting  house  was  a 
temple  of  God.  The  sacred  Shechinah,  which  lent  a  heaven- 
ly glory  to  the  temple  in  Jerusalem,  shined  into  the  hearts  of 
the  worshipers.  They  never  thought  of  suspending  their  de- 
votions, or  even  shortening  them.  And  such  is  the  power  of 
the  spirit  over  matter  that  the  weather-beaten  beams  and 
time-eaten  timbers  took  on  an  attractiveness  and  a  glory  in 
the  eyes  of  these  devout  souls.  The  building  does  not  make 
the  worship.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  worshipers;  truer  yet,  it 
is  the  Spirit  of  the  Living  God,  coming  down  into  the  midst 
of  His  saints  and  uniting  them  in  the    fellowship   of   Christ. 

Second,  a  change  of  polity  has  taken  place.  Things 
were  a  good  deal  mixed  in  the  early  days  as  to  principles  and 
forms  of  church  government  and  fellowship.  It  was  inevita- 
ble. There  was  the  church  that  had  come  over  in  the  May- 
flower, that  had  become  in  practice,  if  not  in  theory,  a  Con- 
gregational church,  self-governing  and  recognizing  only  the 
authority  of  Christ.  But  the  other  churches  of  Massachu- 
setts and  Connecticut  had  a  tincture  of  Presbyterianism  about 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  IB 

them.  And  it  was  asserted  in  the  Cambridge  platform  that 
the  ordinary  power  of  governmenl  belongs  only  to  the  elders. 
It  took  the  free  air  of  America  and  a  clearer  grasp  of  the 
truth  that  Christ  reveals  his  will  through  the  differenl  mem- 
bers of  his  hotly  to  shake  the  church. -s  loose  from  the  restiges 
of  an  aristocratic  form  of  government  and  come  on  to  the 
platform  of  a  pure  democracy  in  church  affairs. 

I  think  I  discover  vestiges  of  this  Presbyterian  form  of 
governmenl  in  the  early  history  of  this  church.  The  records 
of  the  church  are  lost  for  the  early  days  and  so  we  have  only 
hints.  But  I  think  the  note  made  by  Mr.  Backus  ou  one  of 
the  sermons  of  his  that  has  come  down  to  us,  that  it  was 
"  presented  to  ye  reverend  elders  antecedent  to  my  ordina- 
tion.'" shows  that  the  church  had  ruling  elders.  The  society 
or  parish  called  Mr.  Backus,  but  those  elders  evidently  had 
something  to  say  as  to  whether  he  was  the  proper  person  to 
be  settled  over  them.  Then  as  late  as  1809,  in  the  last  will 
and  testament  of  Rosanna  Deming,  making  a  bequest  to  the 
Newington  society,  there  is  a  clause,  which  hints  again  at 
some  uncertainty  in  her  mind  as  to  just  what  this  church 
was.  whether  it  was  Congregational  or  Presbyterian.  The 
clause  is  that  she  gives  and  bequeaths  to  the  ecclesiastical  so- 
ciety in  Newington  such  and  such  lands,  the  avails  of  them 
to  be  given  to  the  Presbyterian  or  Congregational  minister 
of  said  society.  It  took  time,  therefore,  for  the  church  to 
determine  its  own  character. 

Then  when  we  consider  the  functions  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal society  in  the  early  times,  we  see  what  a  change  has  taken 
place.  It  would  cause  a  revolt  in  the  church  to-day  if  the  so- 
ciety whose  offices  are  now  limited  to  the  temporalities  of the 
church,  should  attempt  to  do  some  of  the  things  the  Newing- 
ton society  once  did  without  question.  Something  of  the 
notion  of  a  theocracy  doubtless  came  in  here  and  the  union 
of  church  and  state. 

But  the  society  in  those  early  days  was  a  kind  of  man  of 
all  work.  It  shrunk  from  nothing  that  needed  to  be  done. 
It  went  ahead  in  a  free  and  easy,  large  kind  of  way  about 
everything,  from  laying  a  tax  to  calling  a  minister.  It  ap- 
pointed the  fast  days,  built  and  maintained  the  pound,  had 
charge  of  the  schools,  established  libraries,  appointed  con- 
stables, looked  after  the  burying  ground,  selected  sheep  mas- 
ters, received  public  bequests,  petitioned  the  Legislature 
numberless  times  and  did  pretty  much  everything  that  had 
to  be  done.  Here  certainly  is  a  change,  for  to-day  the  ec- 
clesiastical society  has  become  a  kind    of    moribund  affair, 


16  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH    ANNIVERSARIES, 

whose  decent  death  and  burial  have  been  provided  for  by 
legislative  enactment  and  are  actually  taking  place  through- 
out the  state. 

The  relation  of  the  church  with  sister  churches  has 
been  changed.  The  Consociation  once  existed,  made  up  of 
pastors  and  one  lay  delegate  from  each  church.  It  was  a 
permanent  body  and,  unlike  a  council,  was  supposed  to  have 
more  than  advisory  powers.  It  gradually  fell  away  and  the 
church  voted  in  1862  to  withdraw  from  that  body,  and  in 
1868  it  was  represented  in  a  meeting  which  formed  the  Con- 
ference of  churches  to  which  we  now  belong,  and  whose 
churches  were  invited  to   this  celebration. 

The  Half  Way  Covenant,  that  sad  blunder  of  the 
fathers,  left  its  traces  upon  our  records  and  was  attended  by 
about  the  same  unfortunate  results  as  marked  its  course 
throughout  New  England.  If  you  scan  the  records  during 
Mr.  Belden's  ministry,  you  will  be  struck  by  the  dispro- 
portion   between    baptisms  and    admissions    to  "the   church. 

He  baptized  in  the  58  years  he  was  pastor  622  per- 
sons, but  only  received  into  full  membership  169.  The 
church  at  the  close  of  his  ministry  only  numbered  51.  He 
gives  a  long  list  of  those  who  simply  owned  the  covenant,  but 
did  not  come  into  full  fellowship  with  the  church  and  were 
not  admitted  to  the  communion.  Now  if  you  turn  to  the  rec- 
ords of  Dr.  Brace,  you  will  see  how  different  the  proportion 
between  those  baptized  and  those  received  to  membership. 
He  baptized  401  and  received  to  membership  321. 

There  was  only  a  difference  of  60,  while  under  Mr.  Bel- 
den  was  a  difference  of  453.  That  tells  the  sad  story  of  New 
England's  decline  when  there  were  thousands  of  people  in 
this  merely  formal,  moral,  half-way  relation  to  the  church, 
and  the  actual  membership,  who  gave  evidence  of  the  regen- 
erative  power    of   the    Spirit,    was  so  meagre  in  comparison. 

All  credit  is  due  to  Mr.  Belden  and  to  the  church  of  his 
time  that  they  discovered  their  error  so  soon — sooner  by 
many  years  than  the  churches  in  general.  Dr.  Walker  af- 
firms that  as  late  as  17(.>7  the  system  was  still  largely  in  op- 
eration among  the  churches  and  the  last  vestiges  did  not  dis- 
appear till  1825-28.  But  as  early  as  1775,  the  Newington 
church  abandoned  it.  The  record  says:  "  On  motion  of  the 
pastor,  the  brethren  and  this  church  manifested  their  opin- 
ion that  the  practice  of  this  and  many  other  churches  of  New 
England,  called  the  Half  Way  Covenant,  was  unwarrantable, 
not  authorized  by  any  scriptural  precept  or  example,  and 
therefore  agreed  that  said  practice  should  be  laid  aside  in 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,      1897.  17 

this  church."     And  the  record  of  the  last  person  so  admitted 
appears  for  that  year  1775. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  younger  portion  of  the  congrega- 
tion I  ought  to  explain  what  this  practice  was  which  was  at- 
tended by  such  sad  results.  It ;  came  about  because  of  the 
attitude  of  the  church  to  the  children  of  its  members.  They 
were  regarded,  having  been  baptized  in  infancy,  as  really 
members  of  the  church,  and  saints.  But  when  they  grew 
older  and  some  of  them  in  diameter  and  life  were  nol  saint- 
ly at  all,  the  question  arose  as  to  their  relation  to  the  church 
and  the  relation  of  their  children.  The  desire  was  strongto 
extend  to  them  the  privileges  of  church  membership,  but 
they  did  not  give  evidence  of  a  spiritual  change  and  what 
should  be  done  for  them?  The  question  was  answered 
by  a  compromise.  They  might  "own  the  covenant"  and 
have  their  children  baptized,  but  were  not  admitted  to  the 
privilege  of  voting  or  the  communion  and  were  not  expected 
to  have  experienced  God's  converting  grace.  So  there  were 
two  forms  of  the  covenant,  one  for  the  full  membership  of 
those  who  gave  evidence  of  a  spiritual  change,  and  the  other, 
called  Half  Way,  for  those  who  only  promised  to  do  the  best 
they  could.  It  led  to  formalism  and  a  trust  in  forms,  wholly 
alien  to  Puritanism.  And  we  see  the  strange  spectacle  of  a 
people  who  had  come  out  from  the  formalism  of  the  estab- 
lished church,  falling  into  a  similar  error  themselves.  It  had 
a  fearful  effect  in  cheapening  church  membership  and  weak- 
ening the  obligation  of  personal  religion. 

All  this  review  shows  how  experimental  and  tentative 
things  were  in  the  early  days.  And  it  shows  us  that  forms 
and  methods  are  important' after  all.  One  might  say  of  the 
parish  system  that  it  did  not  matter  who  did  things.,  as  long 
as  they  were  done;  but  it  did  matter  and  when  the  Unitarian 
defection  came,  the  churches  of  Massachusetts,  with  those 
old  parishes  in  full  control,  found  themselves  turned  out  of 
doors,  with  no  legal  title  to  the  building  they  had  erected,  or 
even  the  communion  plate  from  which  they  had  eaten  the 
sacred  emblems. 

It  made  a  difference  as  to  what  theories  of  church  mem- 
bership were  held.  The  dearth  in  spiritual  results,  the  de- 
pleted church  membership,  the  formalism  and  immoralities 
of  the  Puritan  decline,  condemned  the  Half  Way  Covenant 
as  an  offense  in  the  sight  of  heaven. 

But  through  all  their  mistakes,  the  church  lived.  They 
were  not  sure  what  it  ought  to  be  called,  Congregational,  or 
Independent,  or  Presbyterian.     They  knew  this,   that    it   was 


1-  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

"the  Church  of  Christ.  "  They  held  on  to  that  and  studied 
the  New  Testament  and  found  a  way  out  of  their  difficulties. 
God  had  His  faithful  remnant  and  soon  the  breath  of  power- 
ful revivals  began  to  be  felt  upon  the  churches  and  such 
quickenings  of  conscience  resulted,  such  illuminations  of 
the  written  Word,  as  swept  the  unfortunate  practices  into 
oblivion. 

Another  change  is  noted  in  the  worship  of  the  church. 
It  was  very  simple  in  the  early  time.  There  were  no  prayer 
meetings,  in  which  women,  as  well  as  men,  take  part.  In 
those  days,  the  weekly  meeting  was  a  lecture.  The  congre- 
gation had  very  little  part  in  the  worship  except  to  listen;  the 
minister  did  it  all.  Responsive  readings  wTere  unknown; 
even  the  reading  of  the  Scripture  without  exposition  was  for 
a  long  time  resisted.  Such  a  thing  as  using  the  Lord's 
Prayer  or  reciting  the  Apostles'  Creed  would  have  horrified 
the  good  people  and  been  taken  as  sure  sign  of  Popery. 

But  if  the  congregation  had  no  share,  aside  from  the 
singing,  the  minister  did  not  fail  in  his  duty.  The  quantity 
was  never  stinted.  Brevity  of  utterance  either  in  prayer  or 
sermon  was  not  insisted  on.  The  atmosphere  might  be  at 
the  freezing  point,  but  the  good  man  went  on  and  on,  to  all 
his  divisions  and  sub-divisions,  absolutely  prodigal  in  the 
use  of  time.  Cotton  Mather  had  over  his  study  door  the 
legend,  "Be  short,  "  but  he  did  not  have  it  over  his  pulpit 
any  more  than  other  New  England  ministers  and  he  records 
that  at  his  ordinatian  he  prayed  for  an  hour  and  a  quarter 
and  preached  an  hour  and  three  quarters.  That  was  a  moder- 
ate length  for  a  sermon,  I  suppose.  Some  ministers  are  re- 
ported to  have  turned  the  hour  glass  four  times  before  they 
were  through. 

I  estimate  that  Mr.  Backus'  sermon,  preached  in  1736, 
contains  upward  of  7000  words,  three  times  the  number  in  the 
Longest  I  preach.  Mr.  Williams'  sermon,  that  has  comedown 
to  us.  is  quite  moderate  in  length,  though  it  wTas  preached  to 
the  General  Assembly,  where  ministers  were  not  given  to  cur- 
tailing their  exhortations  to  the  legislators.  As  that  sermon 
has  not  in  it  a  single  reference  to  the  occasion,  but  is  a  doc- 
trinal discourse  on  grace.  I  have  no  doubt  it  was  preached 
first  in  Newington  and  that  without  change  the  good  man 
thought  it  good  enough  for  the  Legislature. 

But  the  people  could  sing  if  they  had  no  other  part  of 
the  worship  and  from  the  first  much  attention  was  given  to 
church  music.  I  suppose  the  Hay  Psalm  Book  was  first  em- 
ployed, the  Dr.  Watts  Psalms  and  Hymns,  as  revised  by  Dr. 


v 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,      1897.  VJ 

Dwight  under  authority  of  the  Q-eneral  Association.  Tn  ls:;'.i 
the  people  voted  to  drop  Dwight'a  collection  arid  adopl  Dr. 
Wattsentire.     Dr.  Watts  has  always  been  a   favorite  among 

livinii  writers  and  his  residence  gave  the  place  its  name  of 
Newington.  To  the  credit  of  the  past  be  i\  said  there  is  no 
hint  of  such  convulsions  over  changes  in  flinging  and  intro- 
duction of  instruments  as  wracked  sonic  places.  Contention 
was  hot  in  many  a  church  when  it  came  to  dropping  the  cus- 
tom of  lining  off  the  Psalms.  Some  resisted  the  innovation 
as  stoutly  as  they  resisted  the  British.  One  old  soldier, 
when  the  choir  had  sung  down  the  deacon  in  his  attempts  to 
line  the  hymn,  rose  in  his  might  and,  opening  the  Psalm  book, 
said,  "Now  let  the  people  of  the  Lord  sing  !  " 

That  was  apathetic  preamble  to  a  vote  in  one  town  meet- 
ing, "That  we  take  into  consideration  the  broken  state  of 
this  town  with  regard  to  singing  on  the  Sabbath  Day."  In 
some  places  there  was  a  compromise  and  lining  off  permitted 
at  one  service  and  omitted  at  the  other.  I  suppose  the  ex- 
planation why  changes  were  adopted  here  without  a  quarrel, 
and  as  fast  as  reason  for  them  was  shown,  was  the  general  in- 
telligence of  the  people.  It  was  not  because  they  did  not 
prize  the  service  of  song  as  much  as  other  places  that  fought 
over  the  matter. 

On  the  whole  changes  that  have  come  in  public  worship 
have  been  improvements.  The  variety  introduced,  more  even 
balance  and  unity  of  the  parts,  greater  participation  of  the 
congregation,  are  all  gains.  The  brevity  we  demand  is  not  to 
be  too  much  bemoaned.  We  may  be  in  too  much  of  a  hurry 
to  get  through  with  our  worship,  but  the  fathers  were  certain- 
ly extremists,  considering  the  shortness  of  this  mortal  life. 
We  may  cut  down  the  number  of  verses  we  sing  too  much. 
but  when  a  hymn  was  so  long  that  a  minister  who  had  for- 
gotten his  sermon,  and  lived  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  church, 
could  go  after  it  and  get  back  before  the  people  gol  through 
the  hymn  he  gave  out,  that  was  overdoing  it.  But  the  vital 
element  of  true  worship  was  not  wanting  in  the  old  days. 
whether  the  people  did  little  or  much,  sane-  by  rule  or  coun- 
ter. They  made  melody  with  their  hearts  to  the  Lord,  if 
they  offended  the  laws  of  musical  expression;  and  their  souls 
went  winging  their  way  upward  in  true  praise. 

Changes  in  the  organizations  within  the  church  I  hard- 
ly need  to  mention.  These  have  most  of  them  come  in  our 
own  day.  The  church  and  the  society,— that  was  all  at  first. 
The  Sunday  service  and  the  weekly  lecture  made  up  the  list 
of  religiousexercises.      Now  multiplication   of  societies  and 


20  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH    ANNIVERSARIES, 

committees  and  meetings  is  the  rule.  Some  of  the  organiza- 
tions we  could  not  surrender,  so  signally  have  they  been  owned 
of  God.  The  Sunday  school,  the  Endeavor  society,  the  mis- 
sionary circles, — they  all  seem  essential  to  the  activity  of  the 
church.  But  it  helps  us  to  go  back  to  that  early  simplicity 
to  see  how,  after  all,  religion  is  an  individual  matter  between 
the  soul  and  God,  and  it  must  be  cultivated  by  the  individual, 
and  if  it  is  not,  no  number  of  organizations  can  compensate 
for  the  loss  of  that  vital,  personal  devotion  of  the  soul. 

So  I  might  go  on  affirming  the  changes  that  have  come 
in  every  department  of  church  life. 

There  is  hardly  anything  that  has  not  changed  as  to  its 
form  and  expression  except  the  celebration  of  the  ordinance 
of  the  Lord's  Supper.  That  is  one  service  in  which  the 
dead  yonder,  could  they  come  out  of  their  graves  and  join 
with  us  here,  would  feel  at  home,  for  formula  and  celebration 
are  practically  the  same. 

Even  of  the  preaching,  we  cannot  affirm  that  is  quite  the 
same.  The  same  old  gospel,  but  in  quite  a  different  dress 
and  phraseology.  This  is  inevitable.  The  sermons  of  yore 
were  doctrinal  treatises,  that  might  have  been  taken  out  of 
some  handbook  of  theology.  They  were  theological  argu- 
ments. They  assumed  a  high  average  of  intelligence  on  the 
part  of  the  people.  And  they  were  fitted  to  the  temper  of 
the  times,  for,  as  Dr.  Walker  says,  "Times  have  been,  these 
indeed  were  of  long  continuance,  when  nothing  would  so  stir 
the  blood  of  a  New  England  congregation  as  a  thorough- 
going discussion  of  some  controverted  point  in  dogmatic 
divinity.  Amid  the  alarms  of  Indian  wars,  and  tumults  of 
Revolutionary  struggles,  place  and  interest  and  absorbing  at- 
tention could  be  found  for  the  sharp  distinctions  of  doctrinal 
analysis."  But  now  a  sermon  that  can  be  called  doctrinal  is 
a  novelty. 

I  have  read  two  of  Mr.  Williams'  sermons,  and  one  of  Mr. 
Backus',  and  two  of  Dr.  Brace's,  and  a  change  even  in  these, 
as  you  go  from  one  to  the  other,  can  be  noted.  Mr.  Williams 
leaned  toward  the  school  of  theology  called  the  "  New 
Lights."  Where  Mr.  Backus  and  Mr.  Welden  would  be 
placed  is  difficult  to  say;  probably  in  what  was  called  the  Old 
Calvanistic  school.  Dr.  Brace  was  a  thorough-going  Cal- 
vanist  as  he  affirms,  but,  while  holding  on  to  the  great  doc- 
trines distinguished  as  Calvanistic,  he  was  a  progressive  man 
in  the  temper  of  his  mind.  If  there  was  any  good  thing 
which  appeared  in  the  unfolding  of  Providence,  there  was  a 
large  hospitality  for  it  in  Dr.  Brace's  bosom.     I  unearthed  a 


NEW1NGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     18!i7.  21 

sermon  of  his  preached  before  the  Peace  Society  in  West 
Hartford,  the  other  day.  and  there  are  views  there  on  the 
adoption  of  arbitration  in  place  of  settling  disputes  by  war, 
which  would  not  have  been  out  of  place  in  the  discussion  re- 
cently held  in  the  United  States  Senate. 

But  the  preaching  of  the  early  days  differed  from  the 
preaching  of  to-day  in  other  points  besides  its  doctrinal 
character.  It  was  more  daring.  It  was  more  philosophical. 
It  was  harsher.  It  never  shied  off,  as  do  we,  from  great  prob- 
lems. The  modes  of  the  divine  existence,  the  eternal  decrees. 
the  nature  of  man's  freedom,  the  consequences  of  a  final  re- 
jection of  the  gospel, — it  never  went  'round  any  of  these 
themes,  it  grappled  with  them. 

But  the  merit  of  the  old  time  sermons  was  their  biblical 
character.  They  made  their  appeal  to  Scripture.  Their 
hearers  had  the  privilege,  if  they  did  not  accept  the  positions 
advanced,  to  search  the  Scriptures  to  see  if  these  things  were 
so.  And  above  all,  the  preaching  of  the  past,  and  all  the 
preaching  in  this  church,  has  had  the  heart  of  the  gospel  in  it, 
the  proclamation  of  salvation  through  the  mediation  and 
sacrifice  of  Christ.  Mr.  Williams  might  be  a  New  Divinity 
man,  and  Mr.  Belden  an  Old  Calvanist;  Mr.  Backus  might 
sympathize  with  the  condemnation  of  Whitefield  (which  is 
one  of  the  unenviable  episodes  of  the  General  Association 
when  it  met  in  Newington  in  1745) ,  and,  in  spite  of  that  ac- 
tion, Mr.  Belden  afterward  received  Whitefield  to  his  house 
and  went  with  him  when  he  preached  in  Farmington.  The 
successive  ministers  might  thus  differ  from  each  other  on 
points  of  expediency,  and  they  might  have  a  different 
phraseology  and  a  different  philosophy;  but  when  it  came  to 
man's  sinful  condition,  God's  provision  in  Christ  and  the  re- 
generative influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  are  at  one. 
They  stand  in  the  same  fellowship. 

This  has  been  one  of  the  glories  of  this  church  from  the 
beginning.  It  has  had  a  pure  gospel  preached.  It  has  been 
in  this  community  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth,  and  no 
one  of  the  generations  that  have  come  and  gone,  many  of 
whom  sleep  in  God's  Acre  yonder,  could  have  failed  to  have 
heard  of  the  way  of  salvation  through  faith  in  a  crucified  and 
risen  Redeemer.  Here  is  the  unity  within  all  the  changes. 
This  is  what  constitutes  this  a  Church  of  Christ  through  all 
its  175  years  of  history,— that  the  gospel  has  been  preached 
and  lived. 

Has  this  seemed  a  somewhat  dry  and  tedious  narrative? 
I  know  it  needs  the  kindling  touch  of  your  imaginations  to 


22  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH    ANNIVERSARIES, 

give  it  interest.  The  records  of  the  past  do  not  fairly  reflect 
the  church  life.  A  vote  to  build  a  church,  to  buy  a  drum;  to 
pay  Widow  Andrus  one  pound  and  12  shillings  for  sweeping 
our  meeting  house;  to  pay  the  minister's  rate  in  wheat  at  six 
shillings,  rye  at  four  shillings  and  six-pence,  and  Indian  corn 
ai  tour  shillings  per  bushel;  that  the  committee  shall  appoint 
three  several  days  between  now  and  the  first  of  March  for 
carrying  the  minister's  wood;  that  the  committee  seat  the 
meeting  house  by  list,  age,  parentage  and  usefulness.— all 
these  are  items  of  interest,  but  they  are  only  the  bones  of 
the  history. 

Dates  and  votes  and  petitions,  these  give  a  poor  reflection 
of  the  struggles,  the  sacrifices,  the  heartaches,  the  warm  en- 
thusiasms, the  actual  life  of  the  past.  There  are  little  touches 
here  and  there  wdiich  show  how  human  they  were,  those 
serious,  solemn  people.  It  seems  that  some  of  them  were  in- 
clined to  cheat  the  minister  on  his  wood  pile,  and  so  a  society 
meeting  voted  to  appoint  a  committee  to  watch  the  loads  of 
wood,  and  see  that  full  loads  wrere  drawn.  But  the  penchant 
for  driving  a  sharp  bargain,  that  undying  characteristic  of 
Yankee  folks,  came  out  in  one  transaction,  when  they  fixed 
upon  the  month  of  August  as  the  month  when  the  equivalent 
in  grain  for  the  minister's  salary  should  be  reckoned,  that 
being  the  month  in  the  year  when  grain  was  highest.  But 
the  minister  was  not  caught  napping,  and  diplomatically  sug- 
gested that,  as  that  was  the  month  when  grain  bore  the 
highest  price,  it  might  be  ground  of  uneasiness  to  some,  and 
so  he  would  pitch  upon  the  month  of  June  as  coming  be- 
twixt the  extremes. 

I  cannot  help  feeling  drawn  closer  to  these  people,  when 
any  little  weakness  or  disability  appears.  And  so,  while  I 
feel  far  enough  away  from  Mr.  Williams  when  I  read  his 
stilted  phrases,  and  recall  his  majestic  presence,  I  am  drawn 
quite  near  to  him  wThen  I  learn  of  his  resigning  from  the  rec- 
torship of  Yale  because  violent  headaches  had  been  growing 
upon  him.  Headaches!  Why,  if  we  had  not  come  upon 
some  such  record  as  this,  we  should  never  have  dreamed  they 
ever  had  any  kind  of  an  ache.  And  then  the  poverty  of  Mr. 
Backus,  how  pathetic:  that  was!  He  often  carried  a  load  of 
anxiety  into  the  pulpit.  And,  finally,  he  was  so  sore  per- 
plexed, that  they  sent  up  a  petition  to  the  General  Assembly, 
always  their  resort  in  a  tight  place,  setting  forth  that,  as  they 
had  lost  their  first  pastor  to  Yale  college,  who  had  a  good  and 
large  estate  of  his  own,  and  so  could  serve  them  much  cheap- 
er in  the  ministry  than  any  other,  and  their  present  minister 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,      1897.  23 

only  had  a  small  settlement,  and  did  run  considerably  into 
debt,  and  was  daily  exposed  to  be  Bued,  they  would  like  their 
country  rates  released  for  four  years,  that  they  Qlighl  relieve 
their  reverend  pastor  in  his  difficulties. 

And  sorrow  came  in  those  days  just  as  it  conies  to-day, 
with  its  smiting  stroke.  The  record  is  eery  meagre  of  those 
afflictions,  and  time  has  almost  obliterated  it.  But  how  much 
it  meant,  when  we  read,  "Died,  my  second  daughter  Anne/1 
and  then,  only  three  years  after,  "Died  my  eldest  daughter 
Martini."  And  the  infant  mortality;  it  must  have  been  fear- 
ful, judging  by  the  old  records,  and  a  great  majority  of  the 
mounds  in  yonder  yard  were  very  little  ones,  for  the  children. 
But  we  must  not  linger  over  these  things  which  bind  the  past 
and  the  present  together  in  loving  sympathy.  The  old  days 
were  not  all  good,  any  more  than  ours  are  all  bad.  There  is 
the  mingling  of  light  and  shadow.  And  we  see  a  steady  gain  in 
many  particulars.  But  ours  is  not  the  glory.  We  stand  up- 
on the  shoulders  of  the  past.  We  begin  at  the  point  to  which 
the  fathers  toiled  with  painful  step  and  slow. 

The  thing  that  kept  them  true,  that  led  them  on.  that 
enabled  them  to  correct  their  mistakes,  was  that  glory  of 
Puritanism,  loyalty  to  the  written  Word.  They  tested  every- 
thing by  that,  theories  and  practice  and  life  itself,  and  so 
they  did  their  grand  work.  We  can  follow  in  their  steps, 
transmit  the  inheritance  they  have  bequeathed  to  us,  only  as 
we  have  a  like  loyalty  to  God's  revelation  of  truth  in  Christ. 


The    Two    Meeting    Mouses. 

Roger    Welles. 

THE    FIRST    MEETING     HOUSE. 

The  town  of  Wethersfield,  at  a  town  meeting.  Dee.  24, 
1712,  voted  to  grant  the  petition  of  those  persons  that  inhab- 
ited the  west  divisions  of  lands  in  the  town,  "that  they 
should  be  a  distinct  parish  by  themselves  for  the  carrying  on 
theworshipof  God  amongst  themselves."  At  the  same  meet- 
ing a  committee  was  appointed  "to  look  out  a  convenient 
place  on  the  commons  between  the  two  last  divisions,  where- 
on the  west  farmers  shall  erect  their  meeting  house." 


24  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH    ANNIVERSARIES, 

This  committee,  on  January  8,  1713,  viewed  several 
places  in  the  commons  between  the  two  west  divisions  and 
selected  a  site  "  on  that  piece  of  cleared  land  adjacent  to  the 
house  of  Joseph  Hurlbut  and  John  Griswold,  westerly,  about 
the  middle  of  said  land,  on  the  west  side  of  a  small  black  oak 
tree.*'  The  committee  made  their  report  to  a  town  meeting 
held  March  23.  1713,  when  their  report  was  accepted.  The 
parish  was  incorporated  in  May.  1713.  This  choice  of  the  site 
was  confirmed  by  the  committee  of  the  General  Court  in  a 
report  made  to  that  body  in  October,  1715,  and  accepted  and 
an  act  was  passed  to  carry  it  into  effect. 

There  was  some  opposition  to  the  site,  however,  from  the 
south  end  of  the  parish,  then  called  Beckley  Quarter.  The 
frame  of  the  church  was  raised  in  April,  1716,  on  a  location  a 
few  rods  southeast  of  the  site  of  the  present  meeting  house. 
At  a  society  meeting  held  May  6,  1716,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed "  to  take  care  to  cover  the  meeting  house."  When 
this  was  done  an  attempt  was  made  to  remove  the  meeting 
house  farther  south.  At  a  town  meeting  held  Dec.  10,  17LS, 
the  following  action  was  taken: 

"  The  town  did  then  by  vote  release  the  inhabitants  of 
the  West  Society,  in  said  Wethersfleld,  from  paying  their 
part  in  the  ministerial  charge  for  the  year  past  upon  this 
condition;  that  they  convene  and  consent  that  their  meeting 
house  should  be  brought  to  John  Waples'  Hill.  It  is  to  be 
understood  by  ministerial  charge,  the  charge  for  the  support 
of  the  minister  in  Wethersfleld."  (2  Wethersfleld  Town 
Votes,  5.) 

This  appeal  to  the  pockets  of  our  Newington  fathers  did 
not  succeed.  The  meeting  house  was  not  removed.  When 
the  question  of  its  removal  was  finally  settled,  the  society,  at 
a  meeting  held  April  21,  1720,  voted  "to  get  hewed  planks 
and  lay  a  floor  in  our  meeting  house  and  to  get  window  frames 
and  glass  for  the  lower  tier  of  windows  and  also  to  make 
doors  for  our  meeting  house."  A  committee  was  appointed 
to  carry  this  vote  into  effect. 

At  a  society  meeting  held  May  3,  1720,  it  was  voted  to 
substitute  pine  boards  for  planks  for  the  floor  and  to  get  two 
summers  and  joists.  In  1678  a  saw  mill  had  been  established 
at  the  north  end  of  the  mill  pond  in  the  center  of  Newington 
and  a  saw  mill  path  led  from  the  mill  to  the  site  of  ,the 
church,  a  little  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  so  that  pine 
boards  could  be  easily  obtained.  Dr.  Joseph  Andrus  and 
James  Francis  were  appointed  a  committee  to  buy  the  boards. 
When  these  votes  had  been  passed  and  perhaps  had  actually 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,      1897,  2S 

been  carried  into  effect,  the  society.  <>n  Aug.  5,  1720.  made 
choice  of  Rev.  Elisha  Williams  to  be  their  minister  and  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  agree  with  him  as  to  his  settlement 
and  maintenance.  In  the  meantime,  on  Sept.  15,  1720,  the 
society  voted  to  make  holllw  walls  to  the  meeting  house  and 
appointed  a  committee  "to  lath  and  plaster  said  walls"  and 
another  committee  to  lay  the  floor  of  the  meeting  house.  (  >n 
Dec.  6,  1720,  the  society  appointed  a  new  committee,  consist- 
ing of  Samuel  Hnnn  and  John  Camp,  to  treat  with  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, '•  in  order  to  a  settlement  and  make  return  to  this  So- 
ciety," and  they  were  also  to  endeavor  to  get  a  piece  of  land 
for  him  from  the  town. 

This  committee  made  a  successful  arrangement  with  Mr. 
Williams  and  the  terms  of  his  settlement  were  formally  rati- 
fied by  the  society  on  Dec.  21,  1720.  Liberty  was  granted  to 
Mr.  Williams  on  Feb.  16,  1721,  to  make  a  seat  or  pew  for  his 
family  in  the  meeting  house. 

The  town  on  Marcli  6,  1721,  made  a  grant  of  eight  acres 
of  land  to  Mr.  Williams  "to  be  laid  out  in  the  common  land, 
near  to  the  Widow  Elizabeth  Andrus'  dwelling  house,  north- 
west wardly." 

For  the  next  year  the  society  were  so  busy  in  building  a 
house  and  barn  for  Mr.  Williams,  that  there  is  no  record  of 
anything  being  done  toward  the  completion  of  the  meeting 
house. 

On  Feb.  8,  1722,  the  society  voted  to  lay  out  50  pounds  in 
the  meeting  house,  "  to  build  a  pulpit  and  deacon  seat,  and  to 
prepare  timber  and  nails  for  the  finishing  the  lower  part  of 
our  meeting  house."  On  Sept.  5.  1722,  it  was  voted  to  put 
the  windows  that  were  in  the  lowTer  part  of  the  meeting  house 
in  the  upper  part,  and  make  new  windows  for  the  lower  part. 
On  Sept.  12,  1722,  the  society  voted  to  hold  a  fast  on 
Wednesday,  Oct.  3,  1722,  to  implore  divine  assistance  in 
gathering  a  church  here,  and  in  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, which  was  appointed  for  Wednesday,  Oct.  17.  1722. 

The  point  to  which  the  meeting  house  had  then  been 
completed  seems  to  have  been  about  as  follows:  The  floor 
had  been  laid,  a  pulpit  and  deacon  seat  had  been  built,  and 
probably  rude  scats  for  the  people;  the  walls  were  not  yet 
plastered  up  to  the  galleries,  as  ordered.  No  floors  had  been 
laid  in  the  galleries.  The  walls  above  the  galleries  were  not 
lathed  or  plastered.  Overhead  two  huge  beams,  called  sum- 
mers, crossed  from  plate  to  plate,  and  upon  them  were  laid 
the  joists,  but  they  were  not  lathed  or  plastered.  No  win- 
dows had  yet  been  put  in  the  upper  story  as  had  been  order- 


2G  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH    ANNIVERSARIES, 

ed.  There  was  no  paint  upon  the  house  inside  or  out.  Un- 
der these  unfinished  conditions  of  the  meeting  house  the 
church  was  organized  and  Mr.  Williams  ordained  in  October, 
L722. 

On  March  1,  1723,  another  vote  was  passed  "to  fill  the 
walls  and  lath  and  plaster  the  lower  part  of  our  meeting 
house." 

On  Dec.  1,  1723,  the  prudential  committee  was  instruct- 
ed to  purchase  a  drum,  and  thereafter  we  may  imagine  the 
pastor  accompanied  to  the  meeting  house  at  the  morning  and 
afternoon  service  on  the  Sabbath,  and  on  lecture  days,  by  the 
measured  beat  of  the  drum,  followed  by  the  gathering  peo- 
ple, to  hear  him  beat  the  drum  ecclesiastic  in  his  pulpit. 

On  Jan.  6,  1726,  it  was  voted,  "  to  provide  all  joists  and 
boards  for  the  galleries'  floor  of  our  meeting  house,  and  to 
lathe  and  plaster  the  walls  of  our  meeting  house  up  to  the 
plate,  and  the  new  windows  to  be  put  up  below,  and  the  pres- 
ent windows  of  our  meeting  house  to  be  put  up  above." 

This  was  all  that  had  been  done  towards  the  completion 
of  the  meeting  house  in  the  ten  years  since  it  had  been 
raised. 

Mr.  Williams  ceased  to  act  as  pastor  in  May,  1726,  hav- 
ing been  chosen  rector  of  Yale  college.  His  successor,  Rev. 
Simon  Backus,  was  called  "upon  probation  for  our  minister," 
by  vote  passed  May  25,  1726.  A  positive  call  was  voted  on 
Aug.  24,  1726,  and  he  was  ordained  Jan.  25,  1727,  170  years 
ago.  When  Mr.  Backus  was  ordained  the  galleries  of  the 
meeting  house  were  still  unfinished,  the  walls  above  the  gal- 
leries and  overhead  were  not  lathed  or  plastered,  and  so  re- 
mained for  at  least  seven  or  eight  years  longer. 

On  Dec.  16,  1734,  the  society  voted,  "  to  finish  the  gal- 
leries in  our  meeting  house,  and  lath  and  plaster  the  walls 
up  to  the  plates  and  beams,  and  lath  and  plaster  our  meeting 
house  overhead,  and  to  glass  the  lower  windows  of  our  meet- 
ing house.  " 

When  this  was  done  the  meeting  house  was  considered 
completed,  as  no  further  votes  are  recorded  relating  to  it,  ex- 
cept ordinary  repairs.  It  does  not  appear  to  have  had  a 
steeple,  or  ever  to  have  been  painted. 

On  Dec.  2,  1765,  it  was  voted,  "  that  the  seats  be  taken 
up  in  the  meeting  house,  and  pews  be  made  in  the  body  of 
the  meeting  house, "  which  was  the  first  material  change 
made.     The  house  was  then  nearly  fifty  years  old. 

On  Dec.  12,  1770,  it  was  voted,  "that  men  and  [their 
wives  be  seated  together.  "     Before  that  date  the  sexes  had 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,      1897.  27 

been  separated  during  divine  service.  Perhaps  it  was 
thought  that  the  high  pews  would  hide  from  public  obser- 
vation all  undevotiona]  conduct,  and  so  prevent  interference 

with  the  public  worship  of  others.  Capt.  Daniel  Willard, 
in  his  reminiscences,  says:  "The  old  meeting  house  was  very 
much  dilapidated.  When  a  child  I  watched  the  swallows  as 
they  flew  in  and  out,  where  some  clapboards  had  fallen  off 

near  the  ridge,  chirping  and  twittering  to  their  young,  in 
their  nests  under  the  ridge  pole.  "  This  would  indicate  that 
the  ridge  pole  was  in  sight  of  the  audience:  if  so.  the  vote 
to  lath  and  plaster  overhead  had  never  been  carried  into  ef- 
fect. He  says  further:  "  The  house  was  not  finished  inside 
except  the  pulpit,  pews,  galleries  and  gallery  stairs,  which 
were  at  the  northeast  and  southeast  corners  of  the  house. 
Children  were  often  seated  on  the  stairs,  in  full  view  of  their 
parents  and  the  minister.  The  tithing  men  had  the  over- 
sight of  those  in  the  galleries. 

"  There  was  a  very  wide  sounding  board  over  the 
pulpit,  suspended  in  part  by  an  iron  rod  running  from  the 
board  to  the  side  of  the  house.  I  was  not  the  only  child 
who  was  afraid  that  the  rod  would  break  or  draw  from  its 
fastenings,  and  let  the  sounding  board  fall  on  the  minister's 
head."  (  "Annals, "  pp.  143-4.)  Such  was  the  humble  tem- 
ple where  the  gospel  was  preached  for  nearly  80  years  by 
Williams,  Backus,  and  Belden,  as  settled  pastors,  and  oc- 
casionally by  Rev.  Nathaniel  Bumham  of  Kensington,  Rev. 
Timothy  Edwards  of  East  Windsor,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards, author  of  the  famous  treatise  on  the  will,  and  other 
ministers  of  the  neighboring  churches.  When  Mr.  Belden 
was  settled  in  1747,  there  were  151  members  of  the  church, 
and  less  than  70  families  in  the  parish,  which  proves  that 
the  power  of  religion  pervaded  the  hearts  of  the  people,  de- 
spite the  poverty  which  surrounded  them. 

THE  SECOND   MEETING  HOUSE. 

The  first  movement  toward  building  the  second  meeting 
house  was  made  at  a  society  meeting  held  Dec.  14,  177'), 
when  the  society  committee  were  instructed  to  warn  a  meet- 
ing "  to  consider  about  building  a  new  meeting  house  .or  re- 
pairing the  old  one.  " 

Such  a  meeting  was  held  on  dan.  26,  17S0.  which  was  ad- 
journed from  time  to  time,  but  nothing  was  done  except  to 
order  repairs  upon  the  old  meeting  house.  At  a  meeting 
held  Dec.  6,    1784,    the   society    committee    were    again    in- 


CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

structed  to  warn  a  meeting  "  for  the  purpose  of  agreeing  up- 
on building  a  new  meeting  house,  or  repairing  the  old  one.  " 
Such  a  meeting  was  duly  called,  and  was  held  Dec.  20,  1784, 
when  it  was  voted.  "  by  a  majority  of  more  than  two-thirds 
of  the  voters,  to  build  a  new  meeting  house  for  divine  wor- 
ship. "  At  that  time  the  law  required  application  to  be  made 
to  the  county  court,  to  fix  the  site  of  a  new  meeting  house. 

The  county  court,  on  such  application,  would  usually 
appoint  a  committee  to  select  a  site  after  a  hearing  of  all 
parties  and  an  inspection  of  the  various  proposed  sites. 

The  society  appointed  a  committee  to  apply  to  the 
court  for  a  committee  to  make  the  selection,  and  ordered  a 
survey  and  plan  of  the  society  to  be  made,  to  be  laid  before 
them. 

The  site  chosen  was  near  the  dwelling  house  of  Luther 
Latimer  on  Back  Lane,  southwest  of  the  mill  pond. 

On  Oct.  12,  1785,  this  site  was  formally  disapproved,  by 
vote  of  the  society.  On  Oct.  25,  1785,  it  was  voted  to  make 
a  second  application  to  the  court  for  another  committee  to 
fix  the  site.  On  this  application  Bliim's  hill  was  selected. 
This  hill  is  in  the  fields  southwest  of  the  present  parsonage. 
On  Dec.  19,  1785,  this  site  was  also  disapproved  by  the 
society. 

On  Oct.  29,  1787,  it  was  voted  to  made  a  third  applica- 
tion to  the  court  for  a  new  committee  to  fix  a  site,  and  the 
society  named  the  committee  of  non-residents  to  be  nomin- 
ated to  the  court  as  satisfactory  to  the  society.  This  com- 
mittee, appointed  by  the  court,  "pitched  a  stake"  for  the 
site  in  James  Lusk's  lot,  "by  the  school  house,  "  about  where 
the  house  of  Edwin  Welles  now  stands. 

On  April  14,  1788,  this  site  was  approved,  40  yeas  to  33 
nays.  This  majority  was  not  decisive  enough  to  settle  the 
question.  Greater  unanimity  was  desired  and  on  March  31, 
1789,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  measure  the  society  and 
compute  as  nearly  as  possible  the  center  of  travel.  This  com- 
mittee set  a  stake  a  little  southeast  of  the  first  site  selected 
by  the  court  on  Back  Lane.  September  21,  1789,  the 
society  voted  to  build  on  this  location.  The  building  did 
not  materialize,  however. 

The  society  determined  to  make  another  attempt  at  har- 
mony. February  2,  1790,  a  committee  of  nine  from  all  parts 
of  the  parish,  representing  all  interests,  was  appointed  to 
agree  on  a  site  and  report.  This  committee  apparently  re- 
ported in  favor  of  a  site  in  the  fields  near  the  burying 
ground,  for  Feb.  16,  1790,  the  society  voted  to  build  on  that 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  29 

site,  and  "to  have  a  highway  laid  out,  running  North  West 
from  the  old  Meeting  House,  Leaving  tin-  Burying  Yard 
North  of  said  highway. "  The  vote  would  indicate  that  the 
site  was  either  south  or  west  of  the  burying  yard.  The  dif- 
ficulty of  laying  out  a  highway  complicated  a  matter  suffi- 
ciently involved  and  intricate  of  itself,  and  this  project 
failed. 

March  2,  1790,  another  committee  was  appointed  to  form 
apian,  "in  order  to  reconcile  the  society,  "  and  to  report. 
They  apparently  reported  in  favor  of  the  site  in  James  Lusk's 
lot,  near  the  school  house,  and  a  vote  was  passed  to  build 
there.  This  was  the  second  time  that  site  had  been  ap- 
proved. Nothing  was  done,  however,  to  carry  the  vote  into 
effect. 

April  9,  1790,  an  advisory  committee  chosen  from 
neighboring  parishes  was  appointed  "to  determine  where 
said  house  ought  to  stand, "  and  "to  use  their  influence  to 
reconcile  and  unite  the  society.  " 

This  committee  performed  the  delicate  duty  confided  to 
them,  and  agreed  on  a  site  '"near  the  west  end  of  the  burying 
yard.  " 

This  site  was  approved  April  15,  1790,  by  25  yeas  to  19 
nays.  A  new  difficulty  now  presented  itself.  The  county 
court  had  the  final  word  on  choice  of  site,  and  their  approv- 
al must  be  obtained,  to  make  the  selection  legal.  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed  May  25.  1790,  to  apply  to  the  court  to 
establish  the  location  thus  selected.  Before  this  was  ac- 
complished the  society.  Oct.  25.  1790,  revoked  the  votes  to 
build  there,  and  to  appoint  the  committee  to  apply  to  the 
court.     This  of  course  left  the  whole  matter  "  all  at  sea.  " 

The  prospect  of  harmony  seemed  hopeless.  The  "  dim 
and  shadowy  future  "  was  confronting  them,  but  what  it 
portended  was  beyond  their  mortal  ken.  The  peace  of  de- 
spair reigned  supreme  for  nearly  a  year,  without  the  word 
"meeting  house"  being  mentioned  in  the  records. 

July  7,  1791,  another  attempt  was  made  to  settle  the 
vexed  question. 

Capt.  Martin  Kellogg  laid  before  the  meeting  his  written 
obligation  to  give  90  pounds  toward  the  frame  of  a  meeting 
house,  to  be  located  on  the  west  side  of  the  old  green,  where 
the  present  edifice  stands. 

This  was  met  on  the  instant  by  a  counter  obligation  in 
writing  signed  by  Lieut.  Lemuel  Whittlesey,  promising  to 
give  100  pounds  for  the  new  building,  if  it  should  be  located 
near  the  first  site,  by  Luther  Latimer's. 


;{,,  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

The  meeting  accepted  Oapt.  Kellogg's  proposal,  24  yeas 
to  1  I  nays,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  apply  to  the 
county  court  to  establish  this  site.  This  was  the  fourth  ap- 
plication to  that  honorable  tribunal.  The  judges  of  the 
courtal  that  time  were  Stephen  M.  Mitchell  of  Wethersfield, 
chief  judge;  John  Treadwell  of  Farmington,  John  Chester  of 
Wethersfield,  Roger  Newberry  of  Windsor,  and  Thomas  Sey- 
mour of  Hartford.  The  two' Wethersfield  judges  were  dis- 
qualified by  interest  to  act.  The  other  three  judges  came  to 
Newingtonand  personally  viewed  the  society  and  heard  all 
parties  concerned.  Two  of  these  judges  concurred  infixingthe 
site  near  Luther  Latimer's,  overruling  the  vote  of  the  society, 
and  they  passed  an  imperative  order  that  the  house  should 
beerectedat  that  place.  This  judgment  was  spread  upon 
the  records  of  the  society.  It  wTas  rendered  at  the  time  of 
the  court  held  on  the  third  Tuesday  of  January,  1792. 

The  society  acted  very  promptly,  and  at  a  meeting  held 
Feb.  6.  1792.  disapproved  of  the  judgment  of  the  court,  49  to 
2U. 

March  13,  1792,  the  society  voted  to  apply  to  the  Gen- 
era! Assembly  to  obtain,  if  possible,  the  site  on  the  old  green, 
which  had  been  agreed  upon.  Agents  were  appointed  to 
make  the  application.  A  memorial  or  petition  was  presented 
to  the  Assembly  which  stated  the  case  very  fully  in  favor  of 
the  old  green.  The  Assembly  appointed  a  committee  to 
view  the  society,  hear  all  parties  concerned  and  report. 

This  committee  reported  in  accordance  with  the  vote  of 
the  society,  in  favor  of  the  old  green.  The  Assembly  ac- 
cepted the  report,  and  passed  a  resolution  to  carry  it  into  ef- 
fect. Ln(  )<tober,  1792.  At  a  meeting  of  the  society  held  Dec. 
31,  1792,  this  resolve  was  approved,  39  to  3.  Apparently 
those  opposed  to  that  location  did  not  attend  the  meeting. 
The  victors  were  disposed  to  be  magnanimous,  and  renewed 
attempts  were  made  to  reconcile  opposing  interests. 

Jan.  9,  1794,  the  society  voted  to  cast  lots  between  the 
three  sites  near  Luther  Latimer's,  on  Blinn's  hill,  and  on  the 
old  green.  The  lots  were  cast,  and  we  can  imagine  the 
breathless  interest  of  our  fathers,  as  they  awaited  the  deci- 
sion of  this  appeal  to  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth.  The  an- 
nouncement was  made  that  the  lot  fell  on  Blinn's  hill.  The 
meet  in-  loyally  accepted  this  decision,  and  voted  to  build 
upon  that  eminence.  A  meeting  was  held  Jan.  21,  1794,  on 
Blinn's  hill  itself,  in  the  open  air,  when  the  precise  spot  was 
selected  and  a  stake  driven,  to  be  enclosed  by  the  new 
structure.     A  committee  was  appointed  to  apply  to  the  town 


NKWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  31 

for  highways  to  accommodate  the  inhabitants  in  getting  to 
church,  tor  there  was  no  road  to  Blum's  hill.  This  would 
necessarily  take  time,  and  delays  are  dangerous.  This  case 
proved  no  exception  to  the  rule. 

Dec.  22,  L794,   a  committee  was  appointed  to  find  the 

center  of  the  land,  lists,  polls,  and  travel,  and  make  a  center 
out  of  these  four  eenters.  and  it  was  voted  to  huild  the 
house  at  the  nearest    convenient    plaee    to    this    grand   center. 

-Ian.  5,  L795,  the  committee  reported  in  favor  of  a  site  iii 
Abel  Andrus'  lot.  lie  lived  in  the  old  Audrus  house  south 
<>f  the  pound.  This  report  was  accepted  and  t  he  usual  com- 
mittee appointed  to  apply  to  the  court  or  Assembly  for  lib- 
erty to  build  on  this  new  location.  This  committee  failed  to 
go  either  to  the  court  or  Assembly,  and.  April  14.  IT1.)."),  the 
old  green  was  again  chosen  as  the  Hill  of  Zion  where  the 
temple  for  divine  worship  should  he  located.  This  was  the 
third  time  this  location  had  been  chosen,  but  it  was  again 
repudiated,  dan.  5,  1796,  when  it  was  voted  to  build  either 
at  Luther  Latimer's  or  at  the  careen,  that  one  to  be  chosen 
which  should  receive  the  largest  amount  of  subscriptions. 

At  a  meeting  held  Jan.  26,  1796,  the  subscriptions. were 
closed,  when  the  account  footed  up  in  favor  of  the  site  near 
Luther  Latimer's.  Here  again  a  new  difficulty  presented  it- 
self. Tin1  Legislature  had  decided  in  favor  of  the  old  green. 
Could  this  decision  be  set  aside  by  the  society?  It  was  de- 
termined, in  this  dilemma,  to  send  another  committee  to  the 
Assembly  to  get  the  necessary  order  to  build  at  the  last 
place  chosen. 

March  29,  1796,  such  a  committee  was  appointed,  and 
they  presented  a  memorial  to  the  Assembly,  but  that  body 
failed  to  grant  the  petition. 

June  17.  17i>().  the  site  at  the  west  end  of  the  burying 
ground  was  chosen  conditionally.  The  condition  was  not 
complied  with. 

Feb.  20,  17(.)7.  it  was  voted  to  build  at  Blinn's  hill  and  to 
move  the  timber  there. 

April  27,  17(.<7.  the  site  on  the  Lusk  lot  was  again  chos- 
en, by  subscription. 

May  22.  1797,  the  site  on  the  old  green  was  again  chosen, 
and  the  timber  for  the  frame  was  ordered  moved  there,  and  a 
building  committee  appointed. 

dune  12.  lTHT.  the  same  site  was  again  chosen. 

Aug.  7.  17W7,  it  was  voted  that  the  foundation  stones  of 
the  old  house  he  applied  to  the  new. 

Aug.  28,  17**7.  the  site  on   the  green   was  again  chosen. 


32  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES. 

As  this  was  the  fourth  meeting  in  succession  which  adhered 
to  this  site,  the  question  was  considered  finally  settled,  and 
the  wearisome  controversy  at  an  end. 

Nov.  12.  1798,  tin'  old  meeting  house  was  ordered  sold  to 
defray  in  part  the  charges  of  the  new  one,  described  as  •'  now 
building."     It  was  probably  soon  occupied. 

March  31,  1800.  it  was  ordered  to  be  seated,  and  March 
23,  1801.  it  was  ordered  painted. 

The  first  church  bell  was  not  put  into  position  till  Feb. 
9,  1828.  The  tall  spire  was  taken  down  August  4,  18)37;  and 
the  church,  after  extensive  repairs,  was  formally  dedicated 
August  23,  1887. 

Dr.  Brace  preached  in  the  morning  from  Haggai  ii:  9, 
"  The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  of  the 
former,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts;  and  in  this  place  will  I  give 
peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  There  were  in  that  congre- 
gation many  who  remembered  the  "former  house,"  and  the 
contests  over  the  location  of  the  "  latter  house"  and  no  doubt 
devoutly  rejoiced  in  the  "  glory  of  this  latter  house"  as  com- 
pared with  the  poverty  of  the  former  house,  and  the  prospect  of 
peace  which  then  seemed  assured.  That  prophecy  has  been 
since  fulfilled. 

Dr.  Todd  preached  in  the  evening  from  Hebrews  xiii:  8, 
"Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever." 

The  foregoing  recital  shows  some  of  the  difficulties  and 
trials  with  wdiich  our  fathers  grappled  and  which  they  suc- 
cessfully overcame.  A  century  has  passed  away  and  the  house 
they  erected  still  stands,  more  glorious  in  its  beauty  and  in 
the  peace  which  settled  down  upon  it  than  ever  before.  For 
all  these  years  it  has  been  a  place  of  worship  where  the  peo- 
ple of  this  parish  have  statedly  assembled  to  lift  their  hearts 
to  Him  who  was  their  fathers'  God. 

They  may  have  been  influenced  by  the  inspired  words: 
"  The  lot  is  cast  into  the  lap,  but  the  whole  disposing  thereof 
is  of  the  Lord." — Prov.  xvi:  33.  "  Except  the  Lord  build  the 
house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it." — Psa.  exxvii:  1. 


Changes    in    Newington    Church. 

Dea.   Levi    S.    Deming. 

We  meet  to  review  the  work  of  our  fathers  in  building 
this  church  edifice. 

We  say  it  is  100  years  old,  but  without  the  definite  idea 
of  its  duration  time.  It  will  help  us  to  remember  that  it  cov- 
ers all  but  22  years  of  our  national  life.  Why,  it  is  less  than 
l'.t  such  periods  since  angels  were  Binging  the  birthday  song 
of  Jesus,  the  son  of  Mary,  our  Saviour. 

In  my  early  years,  I  was  with  many  who  talked  about  the 
time  and  way  in  which  this  house  was  built.  My  own  life 
runs  back  to  within  20  years  of  the  date.  I  was  20  before 
any  alterations,  and  hence  have  a  distinct  remembrance  of 
this  building  as  at  first  made.  To  describe  it  briefly  is  the 
part  assigned  to  me. 

The  hewn  timbers  of  the  frame  were  massive  and  fur- 
nished by  citizens.  The  house  was  well  built  upon  its  pres- 
ent foundation  and  "no  stone  out  of  the  wall  cries  out,  and 
no  beam  of  the  timber  answers  it  in  controversy  and  strife." 
The  building  was  in  a  parallelogram  form  with  a  square 
tower  in  front,  rising  from  the  ground  to  the  bell  deck  and 
surmounted  with  a  very  plain  spire. 

The  clapboards  that  covered  the  building  were  split 
from  logs  and  shaved  by  hand,  about  six  feet  in  length,  with 
shiplapped  ends  and  fastened  in  place  by  nails  wrought  up- 
on home  anvils.  The  windows  were  of  large  size,  but  with 
small  lights  of  glass  and  in  two  stories,  upper  and  lower. 

There  were  three  entrance  ways  to  the  audience  room — 
one  with  double  doors  through  the  front  tower  and  one  di- 
rect from  the  outside,  north  and  south  of  it.  In  the  tower, 
also,  were  the  gallery  stairs  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  en- 
trance way. 

As  was  common  in  that  day,  the  largest  timbers  of  the 
frame  were  in  sight  as  you  entered  the  audience  room. 
They  were  cased  with  pine  boards,  but  unpainted.  On  the 
side  walls,  the  posts  stood  like  pillars  between  the  windows 
ami  on  the  <ii(l  wall  all  the  large  timbers  were  seen.  The 
spaces  between  and  the  overhead  ceiling  had  a  lath  and 
piastre  covering. 

The  floor  was  divided  by  three  aisles.  The  center  or 
broad  aisle  led  from  the  front  porch;  the  side  aisles  from  the 
outside  doors.     The  seats   were  benches   upon   three  sides  of 


30  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

The  meeting  accepted  Oapt.  Kellogg's  proposal,  24  yeas 
bo  11  nays,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  apply  to  the 

count  v  court  to  establish  this  site.  This  was  the  fourth  ap- 
plication to  that  honorable  tribunal.  The  judges  of  the 
conrtal  that  time  were  Stephen  M.  Mitchell  of  Wethersfield, 
chief  judge;  John  Treadwell  of  Farmington,  John  Chester  of 
Wethersfield,  Roger  Newberry  of  Windsor,  and  Thomas  Sey- 
mour of  Hartford.  The  two  Wethersfield  judges  were  dis- 
qualified by  interest  to  act.  The  other  three  judges  came  to 
N ewington  and  personally  viewed  the  society  and  heard  all 
parties  concerned.  Two  of  these  judges  concurred  infixingthe 
site  near  Luther  Latimer's,  overruling  the  vote  of  the  society, 
and  they  passed  an  imperative  order  that  the  house  should 
beerectedal  thai  place.  This  judgment  was  spread  upon 
the  records  of  the  society.  It  was  rendered  at  the  time  of 
the  court  held  on  the  third  Tuesday  of  January,  1792. 

The  society  acted  very  promptly,  and  at  a  meeting  held 
Feb.  6,  L792,  disapproved  of  the  judgment  of  the  court,  49  to 
20. 

March  13,  1792,  the  society  voted  to  apply  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  to  obtain,  if  possible,  the  site  on  the  old  green, 
which  had  been  agreed  upon.  Agents  were  appointed  to 
make  the  application.  A  memorial  or  petition  was  presented 
to  the  Assembly  which  stated  the  case  very  fully  in  favor  of 
the  old  green.  The  Assembly  appointed  a  committee  to 
view  the  society,  hear  all  parties  concerned  and  report. 

This  committee  reported  in  accordance  with  the  vote  of 
the  society,  in  favor  of  the  old  green.  The  Assembly  ac- 
cepted the- report,  and  passed  a  resolution  to  carry  it  into  ef- 
fect, in  ( )ctober,  1792.  At  a  meeting  of  the  society  held  Dec. 
31,  1792.  this  resolve  was  approved,  39  to  3.  Apparently 
those  opposed  to  that  location  did  not  attend  the  meeting. 
The  victors  were  disposed  to  be  magnanimous,  and  renewed 
attempts  were  made  to  reconcile  opposing  interests. 

•  bin.  9.  1794,  the  society  voted  to  cast  lots  between  the 
three  sites  near  Luther  Latimer's,  on  Blinn's  hill,  and  on  the 
old  green.  The  lots  were  cast,  and  we  can  imagine  the 
breathless  interest  of  our  fathers,  as  they  awaited  the  deci- 
aiou  of  tin.-,  appeal  to  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth.  The  an- 
aouncement  was  made  that  the  lot  fell  on  Blinn's  hill.  The 
meeting  loyally  accepted  this  decision,  and  voted  to  build 
upon  thai  eminence.  A  meeting  was  held  Jan.  21,  1794,  on 
Blinn's  hill  itself,  in  the  open  air,  when  the  precise  spot  was 
selected  and  ;i  stake  driven,  to  be  enclosed  by  the  new 
structure.     A  committee  was  appointed  to  apply  to  the  town 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  :n 

for  highways  to  accommodate  the  Inhabitants  in  getting  to 
church,  for  there  was  no  road  to  Blinn's  hill.  This  would 
aecessarily  take  time,  and  delays  are  dangerous.  This  case 
proved  qo  exception  to  the  rule. 

Dec  22,  1794,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  find  the 
center  of  tin' land,  lists,  polls,  and  travel,  and  make  a  center 
out  of  these  four  centers,  and  it  was  rated  to  build  the 
house  at  the  nearest    convenient    place    to    this   grand   center. 

Jan.  5,  17'.).").  the  committee  reported  in  favor  of  a  site  in 
Abel  Andrus'  lot.  Ee  lived  in  the  old  Andrus  house  south 
of  the  pound.  This  report  was  accepted  and  the  usual  com- 
mittee appointed  to  apply  to  the  court  or  Assembly  for  lib- 
erty to  build  on  this  new  location.  This  committee  failed  to 
go  either  to  the  court  or  Assembly,  and.  April  14.  1795,  the 
old  green  was  again  chosen  as  the  Hill  of  Zion  where  the 
temple  for  divine  worship  should  be  located.  This  was  the 
third  time  this  location  had  been  chosen,  but  it  was  again 
repudiated,  dan.  5,  17iM).  when  it  was  voted  to  build  either 
at  Luther  Latimer's  or  at  the  green,  that  one  to  l)e  chosen 
which  should  receive  the  largest  amount  of  subscriptions. 

At  a  meeting  held  Jan.  26,  1796,  the  subscriptions  were 
closed,  when  the  account  footed  up  in  favor  of  the  site  near 
Luther  Latimer's.  Here  again  a  new  difficulty  presented  it- 
self. The  Legislature  had  decided  in  favor  of  the  old  green. 
Could  this  decision  be  set  aside  by  the  society?  It  was  de- 
termined, in  this  dilemma,  to  send  another  committee  to  the 
Assembly  to  get  the  necessary    order   to  build   at  the  last 

place  chosen. 

March  20.  1796,  such  a  committee  was  appointed,  and 
they  presented  a  memorial  to  the  Assembly,  but  that  body 
failed  to  grant  the  petition. 

dune  17.  1796,  the  site  at  the  west  end  of  the  burying 
ground  was  chosen  conditionally.  The  condition  was  not 
complied  with. 

Feb.  20.  17(.)7.  it  was  voted  to  build  at  Blinn's  hill  and  to 
move  the  timber  there. 

April  27,  17i>7.  the  site  on  the  Lusk  lot  was  again  chos- 
en, by  subscription. 

May  22.  17'.»7.  the  site  on  the  old  green  was  again  chosen, 
and  the  timber  for  the  frame  was  ordered  moved  there,  and  a 
building  committee  appointed. 

June  12.  1797,  the  same  site  was  again  chosen. 

Am;.  7.  1797.  it  was  voted  that  the  foundation  stones  of 
the  old  house  lie  applied  to  the  new. 

Aug.  28,  17(.*7.  the  site  on   the  green   was  again   chosen. 


:(_>  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

As  this  was  the  fourth  meeting  in  succession  which  adhered 
to  this  site,  the  question  was  considered  finally  settled,  and 
the  wearisome  controversy  at  an  end. 

Nov.  L2,  L798,  the  old  meeting  house  was  ordered  sold  to 
defray  in  part  the  charges  of  the  new  one.  described  as  ''now 
building."     It  was  probably  soon  occupied. 

March  31,  L800,  it  was  ordered  to  be  seated,  and  March 
23,  ls<d.  it  was  ordered  painted. 

The  tirst  church  bell  was  not  put  into  position  till  Feb. 
(.».  L828.  The  tall  spire  was  taken  down  August  4.  18o7:  and 
the  church,  after  extensive  repairs,  was  formally  dedicated 
August  23,  L837. 

Dr.  Brace  preached  in  the  morning  from  Haggai  ii:  9, 
"The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  of  the 
former,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts;  and  in  this  place  will  I  give 
peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  There  were  in  that  congre- 
gation many  who  remembered  the  "former  house,"  and  the 
contests  over  the  location  of  the  "latter  house"  and  no  doubt 
devoutly  rejoiced  in  the  "glory  of  this  latter  house"  as  com- 
pared with  the  poverty  of  the  former  house,  and  the  prospect  of 
peace  which  then  seemed  assured.  That  prophecy  has  been 
since  fulfilled. 

Dr.  Todd  preached  in  the  evening  from  Hebrews  xiii:  8, 
•Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever." 

The  foregoing  recital  shows  some  of  the  difficulties  and 
trials  with  which  our  fathers  grappled  and  which  they  suc- 
cessfully overcame.  A  century  has  passed  away  and  the  house 
tiny  erected  still  stands,  more  glorious  in  its  beauty  and  in 
tin-  peace  which  settled  down  upon  it  than  ever  before.  For 
all  these  years  it  has  been  a  place  of  worship  where  the  peo- 
ple of  this  parish  have  statedly  assembled  to  lift  their  hearts 
to  Him  who  was  their  fathers'  God. 

They  may  have  been  influenced  by  the  inspired  words: 
"  The  lot  is  cast  into  the  lap,  but  the  whole  disposing  thereof 
is  of  the  Lord." — Prov.  xvi:  33.  "  Except  the  Lord  build  the 
house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it." — Psa.  exxvii:  1. 


Changes    in    Newington    Church. 

Dea.   Levi    S.    Deming. 

We  meet  to  review  the  work  of  our  fathers  in  building 
this  church  edifice. 

We  say  it  is  100  years  old,  but  without  the  definite  idea 
of  its  duration  time.  It  will  help  us  to  remember  that  it  cov- 
ers all  hut  22  years  of  our  national  life.  Why,  it  is  less  than 
19  such  periods  since  angels  were  singing  the  birthday  song 
of  Jesus,  the  son  of  Mary,  our  Saviour. 

In  my  early  years,  I  was  with  many  who  talked  about  the 
time  and  way  in  which  this  house  was  built.  My  own  life 
runs  back  to  within  20  years  of  the  date.  I  was  20  before 
any  alterations,  and  hence  have  a  distinct  remembrance  of 
this  building  as  at  first  made.  To  describe  it  briefly  is  the 
part  assigned  to  me. 

The  hewn  timbers  of  the  frame  were  massive  and  fur- 
nished by  citizens.  The  house  was  well  built  upon  its  pres- 
ent foundation  and  "  no  stone  out  of  the  wall  cries  out,  and 
no  beam  of  the  timber  answers  it  in  controversy  and  strife." 
The  building  was  in  a  parallelogram  form  with  a  square 
tower  in  front,  rising  from  the  ground  to  the  bell  deck  and 
surmounted  with  a  very  plain  spire. 

The  clapboards  that  covered  the  building  were  split 
from  logs  and  shaved  by  hand,  about  six  feet  in  length,  with 
shiplapped  ends  and  fastened  in  place  by  nails  wrought  up- 
on home  anvils.  The  windows  were  of  large  size,  but  with 
small  lights  of  glass  and  in  two  stories,  upper  and  lower. 

There  were  three  entrance  ways  to  the  audience  room — 
one  with  double  doors  through  the  front  tower  and  one  di- 
rect from  the  outside,  north  and  south  of  it.  In  the  tower, 
also,  were  the  gallery  stairs  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  en- 
trance way. 

As  was  common  in  that  day,  the  largest  timbers  of  the 
frame  were  in  sight  as  you  entered  the  audience  room. 
They  were  cased  with  pine  boards,  but  unpainted.  On  the 
side  walls,  the  posts  stood  like  pillars  between  the  windows 
and  on  the  end  wall  all  the  large  timbers  were  seen.  The 
spaces  between  and  the  overhead  ceiling  had  a  lath  and 
plaster  covering. 

The  floor  was  divided  by  three  aisles.  The  center  or 
broad  aisle  led  from  the  front  porch;  the  side  aisles  from  the 
outside  doors.     The  seats  were  benches   upon   three  sides  of 


3-1  CONGREGATIONAL    CHUKCH     ANNIVEKSAKIES, 

square  boxes  or  pews,  with  floors  raised  above  the  aisles.     In 
a  full  assembly,  one-third  must  sit  with  backs  to  the  minister. 

The  galleries  were  high  and  broad  upon  three  sides  of 
the  room  and  nearly  covered  the  part  below.  The  front  seat 
of  the  galleries  extended  around  the  whole  and  had  back  of 
it  an  aisle  that  was  two  steps  above  it.  Upon  a  still  higher 
floor  was  a  row  of  square  pews  like  those  below. 

The  singers  occupied  the  front  gallery  opposite  the  pul- 
pit and  were  numerous  enough  to  extend  the  row  on  either 
side  right  and  left.  Back  of  the  singers  and  between  the 
gallery  doors  was  a  noted  pew  called  the  "high  pew.'*  The 
heads' only  of  those  seated  there  could  be  seen  by  the  minis- 
ter or  anyone  in  the  audience.  It  was  not  always  occupied 
by  Sabbath  keeping  young  men,  for  it  was  said  that  some- 
times cards  were  played  and  wine  drunk  during   the  sermon. 

The  pulpit  was  a  high  box  and  reached  by  stairs  on 
either  side  exposed  to  view.  Back  of  it  was  a  window  with 
a  circular  top.  It  had  hanging  before  it  a  green  slat  curtain 
that  became  dilapidated  and  was  removed.  One  hot  Sabbath 
afternoon  the  sun*s  rays  beat  vehemently  upon  the  head  and 
back  of  the  preacher  and  he  had  to  move  from  his  place.  He 
said  to  some  of  us  after  the  service,  "  I  couldn't  stand  it— the 
sweat  ran  down  into  my  boots."  We  couldn't  stand  it  either, 
and  a  few  of  us  placed  at  the  window  that  week  handsome 
outside  blinds.  This,  so  far  as  I  know,  was  the  first  change 
ever  made  in  the  appearance  of  the  room. 

In  front  of  the  pulpit,  at  the  head  of  the  broad  aisle,  was 
a  special  seat  occupied  by  the  deacons  during  the  service  pre- 
ceding the  communion.  On  its  front  was  a  hinged  shelf  that 
was  raised  to  receive  the  memorial  bread  and  wine  of  the  sac- 
ramental service. 

Such  is  the  description  of  this  place  of  worship  as  built 
in  1797,  and  as  it  continued  until  rearranged  in  the  year 
1837.  It  had  no  preparation  for  lighting  in  a  dark  night  and 
no  arrangement  for  heating  in  a  cold  day,  yet  it  was  an  hon- 
orable structure  and  far  in  advance  of  the  one  preceding  it. 

It  was  during  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Brace  that  two  impor- 
tant changes  were  made  in  the  church  edifice  and  in  different 
years.  The  first  was  in  1837,  the  second  in  1853.  Faithful 
men  in  each  instance  took  the  contracts  for  materials  and 
work  and  the  improvements  were  well  made.  For  about  40 
years  after  erection,  the  spire  had  pointed  upward,  exposed 
to  wind  and  storm  and  with  only  its  first  meager  coat  of  paint. 
It  swayed  in  the  wind  with  loosened  joints  and  decay  had 
commenced. 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,      1897.  35 

A  heavy  iron  rod  ran  from  the  ground,  with  knuckle 
joints,  not  fastened  to  the  building  until  reaching  the  spire, 
and  made  its  highest  termination  in  three-forked  prongs  for 
the  use  of  the  Lightning.  It  was  a  grand  feal  for  the  boys  to 
climb  upward  on  that  rod,  by  holding  it   firmly   with   hand 

over  hand,  and  with  feet  making  step  by  step  on  the  side  of 
the  building.  One  hoy.  more  daring  than  others,  reached 
the  bell  deck  and  his  fame  at  the  same  time. 

But  the  spire  must  come  down,  and  the  task  of  removing 
it  was  committed  to  Robert  Rockwell,  then  a  young  man. 
He  took  his  ax  and  his  saw  to  the  open  bell  deck,  where  the 
spire  stood  upon  its  eight  bare  posts,  and  felled  it  as  uncon- 
cernedly as  he  would  have  cut  a  Large  tree  in  the  woods.  A 
strained  rope  had  inclined  it  toward  the  street,  and  the  two 
posts  on  that  side  were  first  sawed  squarely  through,  to  make 
a  supporting  base  from  which  the  spire  might  topple  to  its 
fall  when  all  other  posts  were  successively  cut.  And  when 
the  last  blow  of  the  ax  was  struck,  it  sailed  off  magnificently 
into  space  and  plunged  earthward  to  its  own  destruction. 
Striking  the  ground  in  a  horizontal  position  it  crushed  into 
splinters  and  the  event  furnished  the  crowd  of  witnesses  an 
hour  of  excitement. 

Instead  of  the  spire  the  tower  received  an  additional 
section  that  covered  the  heretofore  open  bell  deck.  The  out- 
side doors  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  tower  were  closed  and 
the  double  doors  in  front  greatly  enlarged.  Only  these 
changes  were  made  upon  the  outside  at  that  time. 

But  within,  the  gallery  stairs  were  taken  out  of  the  tow- 
er porch  and  enough  of  the  audience  room  taken  in  to  admit 
of  rebuilding  the  stairs  in  the  corners  of  the  new  part.  The 
square  pews  were  removed  and  plain  slips  built  upon  the 
floor  in  the  audience  room.  The  wide  and  high  galleries 
were  lowered  and  lessened  in  width  and  supplied  with  new- 
seats.  The  front  breastwork  was  made  new,  as  were  the 
Bquare  posts  beneath  it.  The  pulpit  was  also  lowered  and 
rebuilt,  but  the  side  walls  and  overhead  ceiling  were  not 
changed. 

Sixteen  years  later,  a  Large  amount  was  expended  and  large 
improvements  were  secured.  A  new  frame  surrounded  the 
tower  in  front  and  brought  out  the  corners  of  the  building 
to  its  present  form  and  size.  The  part  of  the  tower  left 
above  the  roof  was  newly  covered  and  another  section  added 
to  the  height.  The  entire  building  was  newly  covered  also  ■ 
with  cornices  and  casings  and  clapboards,  without  removing 
the   old.       New    window    frames  and    Large    glass   were   used. 


36  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

The  edifice  outside  had  the  appearance  of  being  entirely 
new. 

Tlie  inside  improvement  was  equally  great.  The  win- 
dows were  closed  in  the  west  end  wall  and  the  large  timbers 
of  the  frame  concealed  by  a  level  surface,  with  only  one 
arched  panel  behind  the  pulpit.  The  projecting  posts  of  the 
side  walls  were  hewed  back,  and  all  walls  and  overhead  ceil- 
ing covered  by  new  lath  and  plastering,  but  yet  without  re- 
moving the  old. 

The  east  gallery  was  moved  still  farther  back  and  the 
audience  room  very  much  enlarged  in  that  direction.  A 
handsome  breastwork  and  turned  posts  completed  the  gallery 
front.  A  very  good  pattern  of  fresco  work  covered  all  walls 
and  ceiling,  giving  to  the  room  as  finished  the  appearance  of 
one  newly  built,  on  the  inside  as  well  as  outside. 

The  additional  covering  within  and  without  greatly 
strengthened  the  building.  Before  that  was  done  heavy 
winds  would  bring  perceptible  vibrations  and  sometimes  a 
weird  creaking  music,  not  agreeable  to  listening  ears. 

The  house  was  rededicated  when  these  improvements 
were  completed  and  Dr.  Todd  in  his  address  told  our  citizens 
that,  when  tired  of  the  new  coverings,  they  could  remove 
them  and  have  back  again  the  old. 

That  day  has  never  come,  for  all  these  changes  were  well 
approved,  and  many  others  more  recent  have  kept  pace  with 
advancing  society.  One  member  only  objected  at  the  time 
the  frescoing  was  done,  and  his  objection  was  that  it  was 
■"out  of  keeping  with  plain  slips  and  a  country  congregation." 
We  smiled  at  his  criticism,  but  couldn't  help  noticing  that 
the  improvements  did  help  Dr.  Brace  to  preach  the  Gospel 
and  the  spiritually  minded  to  profit  thereby. 

One  other  feature  of  change  in  the  building  I  must  par- 
ticularly notice,  for  many  of  our  oldest  members  will  remem- 
ber a  small  room  prepared  in  the  second  story  of  the  tower, 
over  the  porch,  for  the  Monday  evening  meeting  of  Dr. 
Brace's  Bible  class. 

The  first  change  of  which  I  have  spoken,  by  moving  the 
gallery  stairs,  gave  it  a  place;  but  the  second  great  change 
brought  it  into  the  audience  room  as  at  present.  Dr.  Brace 
in  that  little  room  harvested  for  his  Master  precious  fruits. 
Here  also  was  weekly  gathered  an  infant  class  of  the  Sunday 
school,  and  in  seasons  of  religious  revival  it  was  often  filled 
with  inquirers  after  the  way  of  life.  It  continued  to  be  much 
used  until,  as  I  have  said,  it  was  included  in  the  audience 
room. 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  h 


Looking  at  the  present  structure  you  notice  as  the  re- 
cent improvements  the  long  windows,  the  improved  slips, the 
uewer  frescoing,  the  new  platform  and  desk,  the  new  Binging 
gallery  and  organ  (a  generous  gift),  the  heating  and  lighting 
provisions,  all  woven  in  very  happily  as  features  of  a  well- 
appointed  place  of  worship. 

And  last,  but  not  least,  the  splendid  additions  of  the 
last  year,  that  place  our  church  edifice  well  abreast  of  those 
building  at  the  present  day. 

A  century  old  !  Yes,  and  good  for  another,  unless  a 
greatly  increased  community  so  crowd  the  courts  of  the  Lord 
as  imperatively  to  demand  enlargement. 


Church    A\usic    of   the    Century. 

dohn    G.    Stoddard. 


What  was  the  music,  and  who  were  the  singers,  in  this 
meeting  house,  100  years  ago  ? 

If  we  consult  the  ecclesiastical  record  we  find  only  a  lit- 
tle about  the  church  music,  the  choir,  or  the  chorister ;  but 
many  votes  concerning  the  meeting  house,  the  minister,  and 
the  ininister's  salary.  Occasionally  there  is  a  record  of  a 
small  sum  appropriated  to  defray  the  expense  of  a  singing 
school  to  bring  in  new  recruits  for  the  choir. 

About  the  time  this  meeting  house  was  built,  there  was  a 
vote  of  the  society  appointing  John  Kirkham  leader  of  the 
music.  Perhaps  we  may  be  warranted  in  assuming  that  he 
was  the  first  man  to  make  a  musical  sound,  or  pitch  a  tune 
in  the  new  building.  This  John  Kirkham  was  a  progenitor. 
Men  are  said  to  live  in  a  long  line  of  descendants.  In  this 
sense  John  Kirkham  is  not  gone,  and  lie  may  yet  pitch  many 
tunes.  In  this  sense  he  has  been  alive  during  the  whole  cen- 
tury. He  came  down  from  Springfield  and  made  the  new- 
bass  viol  boom,  and  his  son  Albert  came  at  one  time  to  show- 
how  a  violin  would  sound  in  the  Newington  meetinghouse. 
Then  John  Kirkham  managed  the  double  bass  before  he  was 
taken  down  with  the  gold  fever,  and  since,  in  female  dis- 
guise, he  has  presided  at  the  cabinet  organ  and  the  pipe  or- 
gan  very  acceptably. 


38  CONGBEGATIONAL    OHUBCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

How  long  Chorister  Kirkham  blew  the  pitch  pipe  or 
marked  time  for  the  Newington  choir  I  cannot  tell. 

Directly  after  the  erection  of  this  meeting  house  there 
was  a  period  of  25  years  for  which  time  it  is  difficult  to  re- 
late anything  accurate  and  interesting  about  the  music. 

I  have  examined  several  old  music  books  published  about 
that  time,  and  those  indicate  what  music  was  performed  on 
Sunday  in  the  meeting  house.  There  was  the  Bridgewater 
Collection,  and  I  have  a  collection  of  music  published  pre- 
vious to  this,  worn  and  yellow  with  age.  Probably  this  was 
tin'  book  of  100  years  ago  when  Kirkham  was  leader.  In 
that  old  book,  without  cover  and  without  date,  I  find  some  of 
tie-  good  old  tunes  sung  slowly  by  our  Puritan  ancestors  be- 
fore the  Mayflower  first  crossed  the  ocean,  Windsor,  Roch- 
ester, Little'  Marlboro.  Wells,  Old  Hundred,  Mear,  Dundee, 
China  and  others.  In  that  old  book  I  find  some  anthems. 
Also  what  elderly  people  called  "  set  pieces." 

I  can  have  faith  that  there  was  powerful  singing  in  this 
meeting  house  100  years  ago.  When  the  people  were  joy- 
ful, thankful  and  glad,  as  was  King  David  when  he  danced, 
they  sang  a  fugue;  when  they  were  cast  down  and  the  world 
seemed  dark,  they  sang  tunes  in  the  minor  key;  and  when 
their  hearts  swelled  with  lofty  praise  and  adoration,  what 
better  could  they  do  than  sing  Old  Hundred  ?  Indeed,  what 
better  can  we  do  now,  after  having  heard  the  best  of  Handel, 
Hayden  and  Mendelssohn  ? 

The  grandfathers  and  grandmothers  had  first  treble, 
second  treble  and  bass,  counter  and  tenor.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century,  there  was  not  much  private  musical  in- 
struction. Pianos  were  scarcer  than  four-leaved  clover,  but 
all  the  girls  knew  how  to  play  on  the  spinning  wheel.  The 
singing  school  was  a  necessary  institution.  Now  let  us 
consult  with  the  oldest  man  in  regard  to  what  has  happened 
in  his  day.  Some  persons  now  living  remember  Col.  Joseph 
Camp,  who,  70  years  ago  and  some  years  previous,  was  leader 
of  music.  The  singers  were  the  men  and  women  of  about 
his  own  age. 

Then  Gen.  Martin  Kellogg  was  leader  for  a  short  period. 
Don't  you  remember  how  anxiously  he  gave  the  pitch  with- 
out an  instrument,  and  had  confidence  that  his  daughter 
.Mary  would  help  him  out?  When  Gen.  Kellogg  resigned, 
the  leadership  went,  very  naturally  and  properly  to  the  heir 
a  p pa  rent,  his  son  Laurens,  and  his  was  a  long,  successful 
reign  like  that  of  Queen  Victoria,  It  was  the  period  famil- 
iar to  those  churchgoers  who  are  now  old  or  middle-aged. 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  89 

This  is  a  part  of  church  history.  Historians  mention 
the  rulers,  the  generals,  the  epochs,  and  the  battles.  No4 
much  is  written  about  the  common  people,     Now.  in   this 

our  little  musical  history,  who  made  up  the  rank  and  tile  ? 
If  you  are  an  elderly  man.  say  To  or  75 years,  you  know  that 
three  co-related  families  in  this  place  consisted  of  seven 
children  each.    Three  times  seven  are  21.     The  members  of 

these  families  were  mostly  singers.  Let  us  skip  the  sur- 
names and  speak  of  them  as  kings  and  queens  in  Europe. 
Let  us  gaze  back  at  the  singers'  seats  of  lo.  50,  60  years  ago. 

Do  you  hear  the  rings  rasp  on  the  iron  rod,  as  those  red 
curtains  are  drawn  ? 

That  is  a  token,  and  means  that  the  sweet  singers  of  Israel 
are  making  preparations.  They  sound  the  key  note.  They 
rise.  The  members  of  the  congregation  rise  and  turn  around. 
Ah,  my  elderly  friend,  whom  did  you  see.  and  whom  did  you 
hear  ?  Do  you  remember  Fanny,  Charlotte,  Julia,  Abbie, 
Electa,  Edwin,  Roger,  Laurens,  Samuel,  Mary,  Sarah, 
Charles,  Elbert,  Thomas,  John,  Harriet,  Mary,  Julia  ?  Dur- 
ing half  a  century,  you  could  not  look  up  without  seeing  some 
of  those  familiar  faces.  And  there  were  others.  Who  will 
forget  Nancy?  You  can  think  of  those  singers  as  youm:: 
the  ladies  with  flaring  bonnets,  flowers  inside,  and  the  young 
gentlemen  with  black  satin  waistcoats.  Thirty  members  of 
the  Newington  choir.  Those  singers  of  50  years  ago  (those 
who  have  not  gone  to  the  promised  land)  may  be  seen  in  the 
congregation  aow-a-days;  a  little  bald,  or  slightly  gray;  and 
they  know  good  singing  when  they  hear  it.  And  now  a  word 
about  the  instrumental  music.  About  50  years  ago,  E.  M. 
Stoddard  played  the  Mute.  This  was  the  first  of  the  instru- 
ments. Then  a  double  bass  viol  was  purchased,  played  suc- 
cessively by  J.  S.  Kirkham.  Stephen  Saunders  and  Rufus 
Stoddard. 

George  T.  Davis  played  the  violin.  Then  came  the  cab- 
inet organ,  and  next  the  pipe  organ.  We  might  be  very  em- 
phatic in  saying  that  the  organ  has  been,  is  now.  and  ever 
shall  be  well  played:  but  this  does  not  need  saying.  It  is  a 
self-evident  truth,  an  axiom. 

After  nil.  what  has  been  remarkable  about  Newington 
church  music  ?  It  has  beeit  about  like  the  music  in  the  Con- 
gregational churches  of  surrounding  towns.  Newington 
keeps  alone-  with  the  procession,  even  if  the  procession  is 
ahead. 

What  was  the  most  striking  feature  of  Newington 
Congregational  music  50  years  ago  ?     I  warrant  that  a  boy 


40  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

with  a  musical  ear,  or  a  stranger  in  the  congregation,  would 
Bay  Mr.  Brace  and  Mrs.  Josiah  Atwood  singing  Old  Hun- 
dred after  sacramental  communion.  It  seemed  to  me,  when 
a  youth,  thai  those  two  voices  were  the  warp,  and  that  the 
others  were  merely  filling. 

Is  there  a  bass  singer  in  Newington  now,  who  can  put 
in  the  power  of  the  half-century  parson?  Or  is  there  a 
soprano  singer  who  can  give  the  octave  slide  like  Mrs. 
Atwood  ?     "If  any.  speak,  for  him  have  I  offended."* 

Coming  now  to  the  church  music  of  these  latter  years, 
the  purchase  and  the  erection  of  the  church  organ  challenges 
our  notice,  and  ought  not  to  be  lightly  passed  over.  The 
organ  is  a  benefaction  and  a  memorial.  It  was  placed  in  the 
church  through  the  liberality  of  a  family,  and  presented  to 
the  society  as  a  free-will  gift,  in  memory  of  a  husband  and 
a  father  passed  away. 

Among  all  the  musical  instruments  devised  by  man, 
none  touches  so  many  chords;  none  gives  such  a  still  small 
voice,  or  swells  with  such  resounding  power  of  praise  as  the 
organ.     Its  tones  seem  sacred. 

Mr.  Aiken  in  one  of  his  sermons  spoke  of  the  spirits  of 
those  departed  as  alive,  unseen,  active  and  present  with  us; 
perhaps  exercising  some   silent  influence  among  the  living. 

Some  good  spirit,  perhaps  in  the  "  stilly  night,"  may 
have  suggested  to  Newton,  Abby,  George  and  the  loved 
mother  that  the  presentation  of  this  instrument  would  be  the 
most  appropriate  memorial  of  the  one,  who  though  dead,  yet 
speaketh. 

Whether  this  was  a  fact,  or  whether  it  was  the  result  of 
ordinary  human  impulse,  the  organ  was  ordered  and  the  con- 
tract signed  in  December,  1883.  The  organ  was  built  by 
George  Stephens  of  East  Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  set  up  in 
March,  1884. 

If  the  congregation  would  estimate  the  value  of  the  or- 
gan,  let  there  be  an  exercise  of  the  imagination.  Think  of 
what  the  church  music  would  be  without  it.  There  would 
be  "  a  goneness."  The  organ  leads,  the  organ  accompanies, 
the  organ  sustains. 

Praise  ye  the  Lord.  Praise  Him  with  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet:  praise  Uini  with  the  psdltery  and  harp. 

Praise  Him  with  the  timbrel  and  dance;  praise  Him 
with  stringed  instruments  and  organs. 


KKY.     KLIS1IA    WILLIAMS. 


Newington's  Pirst  Pastor. 


Rev.    C.    Id.    Williams. 


At  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  Congregational 
church  in  Longmeadow,  Mass.,  14  years  ago,  the  historian 
(who  was  thru  pastor),  referring  to  the  earliest  of  his  pred- 
ecessors, Rev.  Stephen  Williams,  said:  "He  was  one  of  that 
remarkable  family.  90  or  more  of  whom  appear  upon  the  roll 
of  Harvard,  80  or  more  of  Yale,  and  a  like  proportion  in 
other  catalogues;  eminent  in  every  profession,  adorning 
every  rank,  one  the  founder  of  Williams  college,  another  a 
signer  of  the  Declaration  of    Independence," — and   he  might 

have  added  that  has  given  to  t  he  diocese  of  Connecticut  its 
honored,  and  now  venerable,  bishop  and.  to  the  country  at 
large,  innumerable  Congregational  bishops. 

On  the  same  occasion.  Prof.  Park  affirmed  thai  the  fam- 
ily was  not  only  widely  esteemed,  bul  held  itself  in  high  re- 
gard, also,  and  demanded  this  from  others.  In  illustration, 
he  told  of  one.  of  the  name  and  blood,  resident  in  Massachu- 
setts and  near  that  town,  an  officer    in  the  French  and  Indian 


U  CONGEEGATIONAL     CHUKCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

wars,  who  carried  a  substantial  cane  and,  when  the  young 
men  tailed  to  raise  their  hats  to  him,  used  it  to  remove  them 
summarily  and  forcibly.  1  have  brought  a  cane  with  me  to- 
day, but  do  not  intend  to  put  it  to  such  use. 

1  have  emphasized,  thus,  the  quality  of  the  stock  for  a 
double  reason.  It  is  a  prolific  stock.  The  family  tree  has 
very  numerous  branches.  The  annalist  of  the  family  esti- 
mates (he  does  not  make  it  as  an  exact  statement)  that  we 
have  furnished  lineally  and  collaterally  seven  and  a  half 
millions  to  the  race.  Think  what  a  country  this  would  be 
to  live  in,  if  the  quality  of  the  Williams   blood  was  inferior  ! 

But  further,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  when  asked,  "At 
what  time  should  we  begin  the  education  of  a  boy?"  wisely 
made  answer,  "  One  hundred  years  before  he  is  born."  How 
was  it  with  this  boy  who,  on  reaching  maturity,  became  the 
first  pastor  of  this  church  and  of  whom  I  am  to  speak  ? 

Stephen  and  Margaret  (Cooke)  Williams  of  Great  Yar- 
mouth, England,  were  granted  a  son  Robert,  who  married 
Elizabeth  Stalham.  (It  is  not  strange  that  she  was  willing 
to  exchange  that  name  for  his.) 

Presently  he  desired  to  go  over  the  sea,  but  she,  delicate- 
ly reared  and  warmly  attached  to  the  home  land,  demurred 
until,  in  a  dream,  it  was  made  known  to  her  that  she  might  thus 
become  the  mother,  or  ancestor,  of  many  worthy  ministers. 
Then  her  hesitation  vanished  and  they  emigrated  from  Nor- 
wich, England,  to  Roxbury,  Mass.,  where  their  subsequent 
lives  were  spent  and  their  bodies  interred. 

On  Sept.  1,  1638,  the  year  of  their  arrival,  the  third  son 
and  fourth  child  was  bom  to  them  and  named  Isaac.  He.  we 
are  told,  represented  his  town  for  several  years  in  the  Gener- 
al Court  and  also  commanded  a  troop  of  horse,  thus  earning 
his  title  of  captain.  He  married  Martha  Parke,  sister  to  his 
brother  Samuel's  wife  (who  was  the  mother  of  John,  known 
in  history  as  the  "  redeemed  captive")  and  made  his  home  in 
Newtown,  which  then  included  Cambridge. 

Of  Robert,  the  emigrant  ancestor,  Ellis  writes:  "  He  was 
one  of  the  most  influential  men  in  town  affairs;"  and  French, 
that  "  he  was  much  interested  in  education  and  made  liberal 
arrangements  to  assist  the  Free  Schools,  was  a  subscriber  to 
and  for  years  a  trustee  of,  the  funds  raised  for  their  benefit." 

"  He  is,"  says  Farmer,  "  the  common  ancestor  of  the  di- 
vines, civilians  and  warriors  of  the  name,  who  have  honored 
the  country  by  their  birth." 

William,  grandson  of  Robert  and  son  of  Isaac  and 
Martha    (Parke)     Williams,     was    born     Feb.    2,    1665,    and 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,      1897.  13 

brought  up,  as  was  his  cousin  John,  by  the  maternal  grand- 
father, Dea.  William  Parke,  one  of  the  wealthiest  citizens  of 

Roxbury  and.  for  more  than  30  years,  a  member  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court.  He.  with  his  cousin,  was  graduated  from  Har- 
vard college  in  168;}  and.  two  years  later,  began  a  pastorate  at 
Hatfield,  Mass.,  which  ended  only  with  his  death  56  years 
after. 

In  the  discourse  at  his  funeral,  Jonathan  Edwards  said 
of  him:  "  He  was  a  person  of  uncommon  natural  abilities 
and  distinguished  learning,  a  great  divine  of  very  compre- 
hensive knowledge  and  of  a  solid,  accurate  judgment."  That 
he  was  good,  as  well  as  great,  appears  from  his  parting  mes- 
sage to  the  clerical  association  of  which  he  had  been  so  Long 
a  member:  "  Love  your  Master,  love  your  work  and  love  one 
another." 

On  the  8th  of  July.  1686,  the  Hatfield  pastor  was  mar- 
ried to  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  Rev.  Seaborn  Cotton  of 
Hampton,  N.  H. 

Mr.  Cotton  was  born  on  the  (irrirfin.  while  his  parents, 
Rev.  John  and  Sarah  (Story)  Cotton  were  on  their  voyage 
to  this  country.  Two  days  after  landing,  he  was  baptized  at 
St.  Michael's  church,  Boston,  and  named,  in  view  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  birth,  Seaborn.  He  married  Dorothy 
Bradstreet,  whose  mother,  Aura  Dudley,  wife  of  Simon  Brad- 
street,  is  known  as  the  "Tenth  Muse." 

By  her  he  had  nine  children,  all  girls  but  one, — Eliza- 
beth, bom  Aug.  13,  1665,  becoming  the  wife  of  William 
Williams  and  bearing  to  him  five  children.  The  fourth  of 
these,  born  at  Hatfield,  Aug.  20,  1694.  was  named  Elisha  and 
is  the  hero  of  my  story. 

Recurring  to  Dr.  Holmes'  oracular  utterance,  we  find,  as 
factors  in  the  pre-natal  education  of  this  boy,  Robert,  Isaac 
and  William  Williams,  William  Parke,  John  Cotton,  Simon 
Bradstreet  and  Joseph  Dudley,  not  to  mention  their  wives. 

How  that  education  was  continued,  after  he  had  a  local 
habitation  and  a  name,  must  be  more  concisely  stated.  Dr. 
Sprague,  who  had  earlier  access  than  I  to  the  family  manu- 
scripts and  traditions,  testifies  thus:  "  His  early  intellectual 
developments  were  more  than  ordinarily  promising;  and  in 
the  year  1708  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  Sophomore 
class  in  Harvard  college.  During  his  collegiate  course  he 
was  an  uncommonly  diligent  and  successful  student;  and  he 
graduated  with  honor  in  the  year  1711.  After  leaving  col- 
lege, his  attention  was  directed  to  the  study  of  theology  un- 
der  the   guidance    of   his   venerable    father:    and.    while  he 


44  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

studied  the  Bible  as  the  only  authoritative  standard  of 
Christian  doctrine,  he  availed  himself  of  the  writings  of  the 
early  Ref ormers  and  of  the  Puritans,  for  which  he  had  ever 
after  b  strong  relish." 

Dr.  Sprague   fails  to   note,  however,   that  he  taught  a 
grammar  school  at    Hadley   the   year  after   his   graduation. 
Two  years  later,  he  weds  Eunice,  daughter  of  Thomas  Ches- 
ter of  Wethersfield,  and  settles  down  there  to  farming,  read- 
ing law  and  teaching.     This  life  is  interrupted,  though,    by  a 
voyage  to  Canso,  an  island  on  the  southeast  coast  of  Nova 
Scotia,  where  he  preached  to  fishermen  for  a  season ;  and  also 
by  service  as  deputy  to  the  Assembly  for  five  consecutive 
terms,  being  clerk  at  all  but  one,  when  he  was  chosen  auditor 
of  accounts.      The  teaching  referred  to  was  chiefly,    if  not 
wholly,  of  Yale  students,  the  college  at  that  time  having  no 
certain  dwelling  place,  but  distributing  itself  between  Kill- 
ingworth,  Saybrook,    Branford,    and    Milford.     In  1716,  in 
view  of  the  discontent  among  the  students  at  the  unsatisfac- 
tory conditions,   the   trustees   agreed   "  that   those   students 
who  were  uneasy  might  go  to  other  places  for  instruction 
until  the  next  Commencement."     Forthwith  a  majority  came 
to  Mr.  Williams  and  for  two  years,  until  the  college  was  es- 
tablished at  New  Haven,  he  seems  to  have  been  the  chief  in- 
structor— not  officially    recognized    as  such,    however,  until 
some  years  after,  when  his  name  appears  upon  the  catalogue 
as  tutor,  1716-1718.     In  1720,  according  to  President  Stiles, 
Mr.  Williams  was  "sanctified  by  a  severe  sickness."      The 
same  year  he  was  invited,  by  a  committee  duly  appointed,  to 
"come  to  Newington  and  be  our  minister."     As  Dr.  Sprague 
suggests,  the  religious  exercises,  incident  to  the  critical  ill- 
ness just  mentioned,  furnished  a  fit  preparation  for  the  active 
ministrv.     At  all  events,   the  invitation  was  accepted  and  the 
work  undertaken.     Two  years  later,  Oct.  3,  1722,  the  church 
was  organized  and,  on  the  17th  of  the  same  month,    Mr.  Wil- 
liams installed  as  pastor.     In  less  than  three  years  from  that 
date,  Sept.  29,  L725,  he    was  elected  rector   of  Yale   college 
and,  a  12-month  thereafter,  inducted  into  office.      The  As- 
Em mbly  expressed  their  "joy  in  the  good   providence  that  led 
the  reverend  trustees  to  choose  a  gentleman  so  agreeable  to 
the  country  and  so  very  acceptable  to  the  Assembly,"  and 
voted  to  remit  the  taxes  of  the  town  for  four  years  in  com- 
pensation for  their  loss. 

( )i  his  life  and  work  among  the  people  I  can  tell  very 
little.  Three  of  his  seven  children  were  born  during  those 
years,  one  of  whom,  Mary,  afterward  married  her  cousin,  the 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1kh7.  16 

Rev.  Eliphalet  Williams,  of  East  Hartford.  Two  printed 
sermons  exist  to  show  us  his  characteristics  as  a  preacher,  one 
"Divine  Grace  illustrated  in  the  salvation  of  sinners,  "deliv- 
ered before  the  Assembly  in  1727,  but,  probably,  originally 
preached  here  ;  the  other,  occasioned  by  the  death  01  Rev. 
Thomas  Ruggles,  of  Guilford,  the  next  year.  His  Wethers- 
field  pastor,  in  the  sermon  preached  at  his  funeral,  said:  "  His 
diction  and  address  were  rational,  nervous  and  convincing  to 
the  understanding.  His  preaching  was  chiefly  on  the  great 
doctrines." 

Of  him,  as  rector  of  the  college,  the  same  authority 
affirmed  :  "  He  presided  with  wisdom,  gravity,  and  authority; 
applied  himself  with  care  and  assiduity  to  guard  and  secure 
the  students  both  from  whatever  might  blemish  and  wound 
their  moral  characters,  and  from  errors  and  mistakes  in  mat- 
ters of  religion  ;  and  to  form  their  minds,  not  only  to  useful 
knowledge  and  learning,  but  to  virtue  and  real  piety."  "  He 
presided  at  Commencement,"  Dr.  Stiles  testifies,  "  with  great 
honor.  He  spoke  Latin  freely  and  delivered  orations  grace- 
fully and  with  animated  dignity." 

In  1739,  having  seen  the  last  of  his  sons  graduate,  the 
last  of  those  born  up  to  that  time,  he  resigned  on  account  of 
impaired  health.  The  resignation  was  accepted  "  with  great 
reluctance  and  with  hearty  thankfulness  for  all  his  past 
good  service  in  this  capacity."  A  merited  tribute,  says  Mr. 
Dexter,  for  the  college  "had  grown  steadily  in  numbers  and 
reputation." 

Returning  to  Wethersfield,  he  was  sent  to  the  Assembly, 
where  he  was  chosen  Speaker  and  also  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Court.  The  latter  office  he  held  three  years,  while  he  served 
as  deputy  through  22  sessions,  five  of  them  as  Speaker. 

At  the  instance  of  Sir  Wm.  Pepperell,  he  went  as  chap- 
lain in  the  expedition  to  Cape  Breton.  In  1746  the  Assem- 
bly appointed  him  Colonel  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Connecticut  forces  for  the  projected  expedition  against  Can- 
ada, and  three  years  later,  commissioned  him  to  seek  from  the 
Mother  Country  a  return  of  the  monies  thus  expended.  He 
sailed  on  this  mission  in  December  of  '49,  empowered  also  to 
solicit  funds  for  the  college  of  New  Jersey. 

He  was  at  this  time  in  business,  being  of  the  firm  of 
Williams,  Trumbull  &  Pitkin. 

Within  five  months  of  his  departure,  two  of  his  children 
died,  one  a  daughter  of  19,  the  other  an  infant,  and  last,  his 
faithful  wife  and  the  mother  of  his  seven  children,  of  whom 
only  two  were  then  living. 


46  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES. 

Detained  in  England  by  various  causes,  he  made  the 
acquaintance  and  won  the  regard  of  many  notable  people- 
Isaac  Watts,  Lady  Huntington,  and,  especially,  Dr.  Philip 
Doddridge,  who  introduced  him,  with  warm  commendation, 
to  that  "elect  lady,"  Elizabeth  Scott,  daughter  of  Rev.  Thomas 
Scott,  an  eminent  dissenting  minister  of  Norwich,  though  not 
the  commentator  of  that  name.  To  her  he  was  married  Jan- 
uary 29,  1751,  and,  with  her,  arrived  at  New  London  in  April 
of  the  next  year. 

Henceforth  his  home  was  in  Wethersfield,  where  he  fell 
asleep  July  24,  1755,  within  a  month  of  his  61st  birthday. 
"  A  wise,  great  and  good  man,"  is  one  sentence  in  the  epitaph 
upon  his  tombstone. 

May  we  not  feel  that  this  church  was  blest,  in  having,  as 
its  first  pastor  and  teacher,  a  man  so  versatile,  so  accom- 
plished, so  affable  and  so  sincere  ? 


Rev.    Simon    Backus.    A.    A\. 

Oswald    P.    Backus.    Sen. 

Some  one  has  said  that  the  best  part  of  a  man  who  is 
continually  talking  about  his  ancestors,  is  under  ground,  and 
it  has  been  alleged  as  undoubtedly  true,  that  the  men  who 
fail  to  recall  and  recount  the  good  and  noble  deeds  of  their 
progenitors,  will  leave  no  record  behind  them  of  worthy 
achievements,  no  "  footprints  on  the  sands  of  time." 

Holy  writ  abounds  with  commands  to  "  remember  the 
former  things  of  old,"  and  in  Deut.  xxxii:  7,  'tis  thus  ex- 
pressed. '•  Remember  the  days  of  old,  consider  the  years  of 
many  generations;  ask  thy  father  and  he  will  shew  thee;  thy 
elders  and  they  will  tell  thee,"  and  so  we  gather  here  to-day 
to  remind,  and  be  reminded  of  the  generations  past  and  gone, 
and  gather  inspiration  from  their  lives  and  work,  as  we  be- 
hold the  fruitage  of  them. 

Rev.  Simon  Backus,  senior,  was  born  at  Norwich,  Conn., 
Feb.  11,  1700,  and  was  son  of  Joseph  Backus  and  Elizabeth 
Huntington,  his  wife.  Joseph  Backus  represented  Norwich 
in  the  Legislature  for  forty  years,  and  was  a  sturdy  defender 
of  Congregationalism.  Pastor  of  the  Norwich  church  he  was 
an  advocate  of  the  surrender  to  Presbyterianism,  known  as  the 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  47 

Saybrook  Platform,  and  upon  receiving  a  copy  of  the  law 
adopting  it,  which  declared  the  non-recognition  of  all 
churches  dissenting  from  its  provisions,  he  took  pains  to 
publicly  read  and  emphasize  its  penalties,  hut  omitted  to 
refer  to  a  clause  in  the  law,  which  permitted  churches  and 
societies,  which  might  dissent,  to  exercise  worship  and  dis- 
cipline according  to  their  consciences,  whereupon,  the  rec- 
ord informs  us.  up  rose  Joseph  Backus  and  Richard  Bushnell 
and  laid  the  whole  act  before  the  people. 

A  majority  sustained  the  pastor,  and  many  withdrew 
from  the  church.  At  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature, 
Messrs.  Backus  and  Bushnell  were  censured,  and  expelled 
from  the  house,  but  were  promptly  re-elected. 

Continuing  the  contest  on  behalf  of  ecclesiastical  de- 
mocracy, the  year  171^  found  a  majority  of  the  church  vot- 
ing "soberly  to  dissent'*  from  the  Saybrook  platform. 

Council  after  council  was  called  but  the  opposition 
would  not  down.  Mr.  Backus  visited  Dr.  Increase  Mather 
of  Boston,  a  noted  advocate  of  the  Congregational  polity,  and 
returned  determined  not  to  yield  a  point. 

His  persistency  was  finally  rewarded  by  the  triumph  of 
liberal  principles,  and  each  generation  of  his  son  Simon's 
descendants,  of  the  name  of  Backus,  have  been  devoted  to  the 
polity  of  the  Pilgrims,  and  while  conceding  to  all  men  per- 
fect liberty  of  thought  and  practice  in  matters  of  religion 
and  politics,  they  have  met  King  James'  motto  with  the 
counter  declaration.  "  No  church  that  has  a  Bishop,  no  state 
that  has  a  King." 

Rev.  Simon  Backus  graduated  at  Yale  college  in  1724, 
and,  having  decided  to  devote  his  life  to  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry, pursued  his  theological  studies  with  Rev.  Mr.  Bulkeley 
of  Colchester,  ancestor  of  ex-Gov.  Bulkeley  of  this  state. 

Among  many  of  his  manuscript  sermons  in.  my  posses- 
sion, is  one  bearing  the  endorsement  •"From  Heb.  xii:  1-2. 
"Wherefore  seeing  we  also  are  compassed  about  with  so  great 
a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  lay  aside  every  weight  and  the 
sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us.  and  let  us  run  with  pa- 
tience the  race  which  is  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the 
author  and  finisher  of  our  faith.  D  before  Mr.  Bulkeley  at 
Colchester,  Dec.  1725." 

The  same  month  Mr.  Backus  was  waited  upon  by  Mr. 
James  Harris,  Mr.  John  Holmes  and  Ensign  Wells,  a  com- 
mittee of  a  society  taken  from  Colchester  and  Lyme,  called 
Pungwonk,  and  requested  to  preach  for  the  new  society. 

A  memorandum  states  that  the  request  was  granted  and 
an  engagement  made  until  "ye  May  following." 


48  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH    ANNIVERSARIES, 

Upon  the  expiration  of  this  term  of  service,  and  on  May 
25,  172f>-7.  Mr.  Jabez  Whittlesey  was  instructed  to  call 
him  to  Newington,  and  on  June  1  and  August  24  following, 
he  was  invited  to  permanently  settle  with  this  people,  Deacon 
John  Deming,  John  Stoddard  and  Samuel  Hunn  being  mem- 
bers of  the  committee  on  call  and  settlement. 

In  a  communication  of  September  12,  Mr.  Backus 
acknowledged  the  invitation,  saying  that:  "In  a  due  sense  of 
my  unworthiness  to  be  employed  in,  and  insufficiency  for  that 
great  and  solemn  work  of  the  ministry,  I  accept  of  your  call 
to  that  work,  and  your  proposal  for  my  settlement  and  yearly 
maintenance.  Desiring  your  earnest  prayers  with  mine  to  the 
God  of  all  grace  that  I  may  come  to  you  in  the  fullness  of  the 
blessing  of  the  gospel  of  Christ." 

His  ordination  sermon  bears  the  inscription,  "  Newing- 
ton, Jan.  ye  25,  1726-7,  was  presented  ye  following  discourse 
to  ye  Reverend  Elders  antecedent  to  my  ordination  from  Jo'n 
8,  51 :  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you  if  a  man  keep  my  say- 
ings he  shall  never  see  death." 

Upon  his  advent  to  Newington,  he  boarded  with  one  of 
his  Deacons,  and  was  doubtless  clothed,  as  were  the  clergy- 
men of  that  time,  the  clerical  wig  being  a  prominent  and  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  attire. 

His  regard  for  the  Deacon  is  proved  by  an  entry  in  his 
account  book  under  the  date  1726-7,  "  Borrowed  of  my  land- 
lord, three  pounds,"  and  that  he  regarded  the  Deacon's  office 
as  equal  in  dignity  to  his  own,  is  conclusively  shown  by  the 
further  entry,  "  Paid  by  a  wig  one  pound  fourteen  shillings." 

Prior  to  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Backus,  his  eldest  brother, 
Joseph  Backus,  Jr.,  who  had  graduated  at  Yale  College  in 
1718,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law  in  Hartford,  had 
married  Hannah  Edwards,  sister  of  Rev.  Timothy  Edwards, 
pastor  of  the  church  in  East  Windsor.  Two  years  before  the 
call  to  Newington,  Mr.  Backus'  cousin,  Col.  Jabez  Hunting- 
ton, of  Windham  (whose  daughter  Anne  subsequently  mar- 
ried Judge  Benjamin  Huntington,  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  first 
cousin  of  Mr.  Backus) ,  had  married  Elizabeth  Edwards, 
daughter  of  Rev.  Timothy  Edwards. 

The  young  clergyman  soon  found  his  way  into  the  family 
circle  of  Timothy  Edwards,  and  the  record  declares  that  on 
October  1st,  1729,  Eunice  Edwards,  the  daughter  next  younger 
in  age  to  her  celebrated  brother,  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  was 
married  to  the  Newington  pastor,  the  bride's  father  offi- 
ciating. 

Eunice  Edwards  was  then  twenty-four  years  of  age,  and 


NEWINGTOX,     CONNECTICUT,      1X97.  »'< 

one  of  ten  sisters,  nil  of  whom  had  been  carefully  and  liberally 
educated  in  company  with  the  young  men  who.  in  considera- 
ble numbers,  were  constantly  in  training  under  the  tuition  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Edwards,  the  daughters  in  process  of  time  becoming 

the  tutors  of  the  young  men. 

To  complete  their  education,  all  of  the  Edwards  ^irls 
were  sent  to  the  one  city  of  those  ancient,  as  well  as  these 
modern  times,  Boston. 

Rev.  Timothy  Edwards  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, and  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  student  of  that  institu- 
tion to  whom  the  degrees  of  A.  B.  and  A.  M.  had  been 
awarded  at  graduation. 

He  was  not  only  a  lover  of  education,  as  is  evidenced  by 
the  unusual  training  for  the  time  given  to  his  daughters,  but 
was  also  a  man  of  great  personal  dignity  and  possessed  marked 
social  qualities,  for  we  find  that  when  he  was  ordained  in  L698, 
he  gave  an  ordination  ball  at  which  King  Alcohol  was  a 
prominent  guest. 

Mrs.  Backus'  grandfather,  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  was 
also  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  and  for  about  sixty  years 
was  pastor  of  the  church  in  Northampton,  Mass. 

Mrs.  Backus'  great-grandfather  was  Rev.  John  Warham,  a 
graduate  of  Oxford  University,  a  famous  preacher,  and  one  of 
those  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England  who  embraced  the 
principles  of  the  Pilgrims,  organized  a  Congregational  church 
beyond  the  sea.  and  set  sail  for  America,  ultimately  settling 
in  Windsor,  Conn.,  where  he  became  the  first  pastor. 

He  firmly  and  successfully  resisted  the  efforts  of  Presby- 
terianism  to  set  aside  the  Pilgrim  order,  and  died  at  a  good 
old  age. 

Rev.  Elisha  Williams,  Mr.  Backus'  predecessor,  was  an 
own  cousin  of  Mrs.  Backus,  their  mothers  being  daughters  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Stoddard,  and  the  wife  of  Rev.  Mr.  Brace  was  also 
related  to  Mrs.  Backus,  being  a  granddaughter  of  another 
cousin. 

When  Mr.  Backus'  pastorate  began,  five  of  Mrs.  Backus' 
uncles  and  two  brothers-in-law  were  clergymen,  and  including 
the  descendants,  own  cousins,  nephews,  grandnephews,  and 
great-grandnephews  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Backus,  an  incomplete 
list  aggregates  eighty  persons,  ministers  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  and  embraces  the  names  of  Williams.  Edwards,  Dwight, 
Hopkins,  Spring,  Austin,  Worcester,  Davenport,  Fisher, 
Bushnell,  Skinner,  Hodge.  Woodbridge,  Hooker,  Little, 
Park,  Tyler,  Porter,  Chapin,  Wetmore,  Burr  and  Backus. 

The   record   announces   again,    that    when    Eunice    and 


50  OONGBEGATIOHMi    CHURCH     ANNIVEESARIES. 

Simon  married,  they  moved  into  their  "own  house,"  and 
here  in  Newington  they  lived  their  married  life  of  sixteen 
years. 

Eight  children  were  born  to  them,  six  daughters  and  two 
sons.  But  one  of  the  latter  attained  maturity.  The  last 
child,  born  in  March,  1745,  was  but  a  babe  when  the  Gover- 
nor and  Council  of  War  appointed  Rev.  Simon  Backus 
chaplain  to  the  Connecticut  troops  stationed  at  the  French 
Gibraltar,  known  as  Louisburg,  Island  of  Cape  Breton,  which 
the  men  of  New  England  had  reduced  to  subjection. 

Mrs.  Backus,  when  a  child,  had  seen  her  father  in  the 
capacity  of  chaplain  march  away  with  the  New  England  army 
in  Queen  Anne's  war. 

Now  at  the  age  of  forty,  and  the  mother  of  seven  living 
children,  she  exchanged  with  her  husband  their  last  fare- 
wells. 

Louisburg  had  surrendered,  the  world  was  astounded,  but 
the  cost  of  siege  and  garrison  had  been  great  in  precious 
lives. 

The  climate  and  surroundings  were  unhealthy  and  the 
mortality  great. 

On  December  27,  1745,  Mr.  Backus  preached  to  the 
troops  from  Deut.  xxx,  19  :  "I  call  heaven  and  earth  to  record 
this  day  against  you,  that  I  have  set  before  you  life  and  death, 
blessing  and  cursing  ;  therefore  choose  life,  that  both  thou 
and  thy  seed  may  live."  In  his  ordination  sermon  of  twenty 
years  before,  this  text  was  especially  emphasized. 

The  sermon  of  December  27  was  probably  his  last,  for  on 
February  2,  1746,  four  weeks  later,  "  after  closing  the  eyes  of 
many  a  son  of  Connecticut  in  death,"  "  it  pleased  God  so  to 
dispose  that  he  in  the  general  mortality  was  carried  to  the 
place  of  silence,"  having  fallen  a  victim  to  the  prevailing 
distemper. 

The  officers  of  the  army  made  a  handsome  contribution, 
as  a  testimonial  of  their  esteem  for  the  chaplain,  and  it  and 
his  personal  effects  were  shipped  to  New  England,  but  the 
vessel  containing  them  foundered  on  the  voyage,  and  all  was 
lost. 

The  Legislature  of  Connecticut  made  some  provision  for 
the  family,  and  Mrs.  Backus  continued  a  resident  of  Newing- 
ton for  about  five  years,  when  she  removed  to  the  home  of  her 
father,  Rev.  Mr.  Edwards,  in  East  Windsor,  where  she  resided 
till  her  death  in  1788,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four  years. 

The  numerous  sermons  of  Mr.  Backus,  still  extant,  con- 
tain but  little  reference  to  the  doctrines  now  considered  so 
objectionable. 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  51 

On  the  other  hand,  they  most  abound  with  presentations 
of  the  weak  ami  sinful  condition  of  men,  and  the  amiable  per- 
fections and  disposition  of  God  toward  his  creatures. 

One  sermon  indeed  is  quite  rhapsodical  in  its  treat- 
ment of  the  Deity  as  a  God  of  love. 

The  influence  of  Mr.  Backus  and  his  wife  upon  their 
descendants  has  been  most  benign.  Part  of  the  Sabbath  Les- 
sons of  the  children  which  came  from  the  Edwards  family 
and  passed  through  Newington  and  down  generation  by  gen- 
eration to  the  present  time,  is  the  following  interrogatory  and 
answer : 

What  are  the  four  most  important  things  for  us  to  attend 
to  in  this  world  ?  Answer.-  Religion,  industry,  economy  and 
education. 

Some  may  take  exceptions  to  the  answer.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  the  impressions  formed  by  it  have  been  abiding 
through  many  generations. 

( )f  the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Backus,  Clorinda  mar- 
ried Zebadiah  Lathrop,  of  Norwich.  Conn.,  and  one  of  her 
sons  laid  down  his  life  for  his  country  in  the  War  for  Inde- 
pendence. 

Elizabeth  married  Lieut.  David  Bissell,  Jr.,  a  soldier  of  the 
Revolution.  Her  grandson,  Commodore  Simon  Backus  Bis- 
sell, of  the  Navy,  died  abroad  a  few  years  ago  at  an  advanced 
age. 

Esther  married  Benjamin  Ely,  of  Holyoke.  Mass. 

Jerusha  married  Smith  Bailey,  of  East  Windsor.  Conn. 

Rev.  Simon  Backus.  Jr.,  was  reared  in  the  Edwards  home 
at  East  Windsor,  graduated  at  Yale  in  17-V.>.  and  was  pastor 
of  the  Congregational  church  in  Granby,  Mass..  from  1762  to 
1785,  and  later  was  pastor  of  the  church  in  Guilford,  Conn. 
He  died  in  Bridgeport   in  1S2:!.  aged  eighty-five  years. 

His  son  Joseph  Backus,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege, class  of  1788,  practiced  law  in  Glastonbury  and  Bridge- 
port, was  secretary  of  the  Connecticut  Society  for  the  Pro- 
motion of  Freedom  in  1796  :  was  one  of  the  early  law  book 
writers  of  the  century  and  an  ardent  Federalist. 

He  was  author  of  the  Bridgeport  petition  to  Gov.  John 
Cotton  Smith  during  the  war  of  L812  which  called  for  a  con- 
vention of  the  New  England  States,  and  was  followed  by  the 
Hartford  convention;  of  the  proceedings  of  which  body  he 
wrote  a  defence  in  1818. 

The  works  of  the  Newington  pastor,  chaplain,  father. 
and  his  wife  "  live  after  them."  and  shall  continue  to  so  Long  as 
their  posterity  fails  not,  and  religion,  industry,  economy  and 


59  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

education  shall  be  maintained  as  the  standard  of  their  lives. 

It  is  a  matter  of  great  satisfaction  to  me,  and  doubtless 
would  be  to  my  ancestor,  that  notwithstanding  the  lapse  of 
almost  two  centuries,  the  Congregational  fort  in  Hartford 
county  is  still  held  by  a  representative  of  the  family,  in  the 
person  of  Rev.  Joseph  W.  Backus,  D.  D.,  of  Farmington,  a 
nephew  in  the  fourth  generation  of  Rev.  Simon  Backus  of 
Newington. 

Let  me  conclude  in  the  words  of  my  ancestor  which 
terminated  his  ordination  sermon  in  1725  and  which  will  be 
found  in  Heb.  xiii,  20-21:  "'Now  the  God  of  peace,  that 
brought  again  from  the  dead  our  Lord  Jesus,  that  great 
Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting 
eovenant,  make  you  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will, 
working  in  you  that  which  is  well  pleasing  in  his  sight, 
through  Jesus  Christ;  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen." 


Rev.  Joshua  Belden. 

doshua    Belden. 

On  the  11th  of  next  November,  150  years  ago,  the  Rev. 
Joshua  Belden,  a  young  man  of  23  years,  was  ordained  as 
pastor  of  this  church.  He  was  born  in  Wethersfield,  July 
19,  1724.  He  entered  Yale  College  at  the  age  of  15  years. 
In  the  second  year  of  his  collegiate  course,  he  gave  his  heart 
to  the  Saviour,  and  his  thoughts  were  turned  to  the  work  of 
the  Christian  ministry. 

The  circumstances  of  his  conversion  were  as  follows: 
Having  obtained  leave  of  absence  from  the  college  for  a  few 
days,  he  rode  to  Wethersfield  in  company  with  two  or  three 
of  his  fellow  students.  They  left  the  college  in  high  spirits, 
and  their  companions  saluted  them  with  jovial  expressions 
as  they  departed.  In  their  absence  an  astonishing  change 
was  wrought  upon  the  college  by  a  special  religious  awakening 
which  affected  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  almost  every  mem- 
ber of  the  institution,  but  of  this  they  heard  nothing  until 
their  return.  Gr<-at  was  their  amazement  to  behold  the  won- 
derful change  which  three  or  four  days  had  effected  in  the 
deportment  of  their  classmates. 


NEWTNGTON,     CONNECTICUT,      1897.  58 

From  this  time,  he  made  religion  hie  supreme  concern. 
Whitefield  and  Tennanl  were  preaching  in  New  Baven  at 
this  time  to  crowded  audiences,  but  the  faculty  of  the  college 
prohibited  the  students  from  going  to  heaT  them.  The  cele- 
brated David  Brainerd  was  a  classmate  of  Mr.  Belden,  and  it 

is  said  that  he  disobeyed  the  faculty  and  went  to  hear  the 
Wonderful  preachers.  Mr.  Belden  some  years  later  had  the 
pleasure  of  entertaining  Mr.  Whitefield  at  his  own  house  in 

this  place. 

One   of   my  earliest    recollections   as  a   boy,  is  of   being 

told  by  my  parents  that  George  Whitefield  walked  with  my 
great-grandfather  down  the  lane  back  of  our  house, and  for  a 
long  time  afterward  it  was  with  feelings  of  awe  and  reverence 
thai  I  passed  through  that  lane,  for  I  felt  I  was  treading  on 
holy  ground. 

While  in  college,  his  father,  having  sold  his  property  in 
Wethersheld,  and  having  purchased  a  farm  in  Canaan,  was 
cut  off  by  death  while  making  arrangements  for  removal. 
This  led  Mr.  Belden  to  ^ive  up  the  idea  of  his  chosen  profes- 
sion, and  to  turn  his  attention  to  the  care  of  his  father's 
family;  but  afterward  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Dr.  Hop- 
kins, he  commenced  his  studies  for  the  ministry.  After 
completing  his  preparatory  studies,  he  preached  in  a  frontier 
town  where  alarms  of  Indians  frequently  disturbed  the  peo- 
ple and  where  all  the  inhabitants  used  the  precaution  of 
sleeping  within  a  fortification. 

In  May,  1847,  he  was  invited  to  preach  in  Newington, 
and  a  few  days  before  his  ordination  in  November,  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer  was  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  asking 
God's  blessing  on  his  ministry.  The  ecclesiastical  society 
offered  "  to  give  Mr.  Joshua  Belden  the  use  of  the  parsonage 
so  long  as  he  is  our  minister  and  preaches  the  Calvinistical 
Doctrine  as  is  generally  at  this  day  preached  among  the  Dis- 
senters. Also  ei^ht  cords  of  wood  yearly  while  he  is  a  single 
man  and  15  cords  yearly  after  marriage,  and  250  pounds,  old 
tenor  money,  for  his  salary  after  the  settlement  is  paid." 
The  settlement  was  to  be  made  1000  pounds,  to  be  paid  with- 
in the  term  of  three  years.  This  seems  like  a  large  salary, 
but  we  must  remember  that  the  currency  was  greatly  depre- 
ciated. 

The  parsonage  property  referred  to  consisted  of  50  acres 
of  land  situated  southwest  of  H.  M.  Robbins'  house.  In 
1774  Mr.  Belden  relinquished  his  rights  to  this  tract,  and  re- 
ceived instead  17  pounds  yearly.  He  purchased  80  acres  of 
land,  it  bein^  a  portion  of  the    farm  that  I    now  occupy,    and 


»  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

his  house,  a  two-story  red  building  with  a  lean-to,  stood  on 
the  spot  where  my  father  built  his  house.  He  was  twice 
married,  first  to  Miss  Anne  Belden  and  second  to  Mrs. 
Honor  Whiting.  He  had  11  children,  nine  daughters  and 
two  sons.     One  son  and  five  daughters  died  before    him. 

Mr.  Belden,  as  well  as  some  of  his  parishioners,  was 
a  slave  owner.  During  his  long  pastorate,  great  changes  took 
place,  not  only  in  the  parish,  but  in  the  colony.  In  the  parish 
a  new  meeting  house  was  built  in  1797,  after  a  long  and  bitter 
controversy.  Neither  the  old  nor  the  new  building  was  heated 
artificially  during  his  lifetime.  Three  times  the  General 
Assembly  allowed  the  neighboring  towns  to  take  a  portion  of 
the  territory  of  Newington.  The  French  and  Indian  war  and 
that  of  the  Revolution  occurred  during  his  pastorate.  Dur- 
ing the  war  of  the  Revolution  he  showed  where  his  sympa- 
thies were  by  preaching  such  a  powerful  sermon  from  the 
text,  "  Curse  ye  Meroz,  said  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  curse  ye 
bitterly  the  inhabitants  thereof;  because  they  came  not  to 
the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the 
mighty,"  that  a  large  number  of  his  congregation  immediate- 
ly entered  the  army.  Mr.  Belden  did  the  actual  service  of 
the  ministry  during  56  years,  until  November,  1803,  and  was 
pastor  emeritus  for  10  years  more. 

In  May,  1808,  his  children  being  all  removed  from  him, 
he  left  his  own  house  and  entered  the  family  of  his  son, 
Joshua  Belden,  who  resided  in  the  house  now  occupied  by 
Mr.  Wetherell,  where  he  lived  until  his  death  in  1813. 

Mr.  Belden  possessed  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body.  His 
intellect  was  clear,  his  memory  retentive,  his  judgment  ration- 
al, and  his  mental  exercises  were  deliberate  and  firm.  In 
theology  he  was  a  diligent  and  successful  student.  In  the 
cultivation  of  these  powers  of  mind,  he  was  employed  from 
his  childhood  and  was  favored  with  the  best  advantages  of 
education  which  this  country  afforded  at  that  time.  He  was 
a  man  of  extensive  reading,  and  this  continued  even  to  the 
close  of  his  days.  In  this  employment  he  spent  the  most  of 
his  time  after  he  left  the  active  ministry  and,  from  long  habit, 
seemed  unwearied  in  his  application.  He  possessed  ample 
means,  so  that  he  could  furnish  himself  with  whatever  books 
he  chose.  He  was  eminently  a  man  of  prayer,  and  great  was 
his  love  for  the  word  of  God. 

The  Sabbath  was  peculiarly  dear  to  him.  On  the  day 
before  the  Sabbath,  he  took  care  that  every  possible  prepa- 
ration should  be  made  so  that  the  holy  work  of  the  day  might 
not  be  interrupted  by  secular  concerns.     He  was  distinguish- 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  56 

ed  for  openness   and   sincerity.      Temperance  and  frugality 

were  prominent  features  in  him.  Of  ardent  spirits,  if  he 
drank  at  all,  it  was  in  a  sparing  manner;  for  he  treated  it  as  a 
dangerous  thing.  His  speech  seemed  to  be  always  with 
grace.  He  was  ever  on  the  guard  against  descending  to 
things  which  might  strike  any  mind  as  improper  in  a  man  of 
his  standing  and  profession. 

As  a  preacher  of  Christ,  he  stood  in  the  first  rank.  His 
great  concern  and  his  constant  prayer  was  that  the  Word 
might  be  profitable  to  them  that  heard  it.  He  felt  a  strong 
concern  for  his  country,  and  for  Zion,  and  this  seemed  to  in- 
crease rather  than  abate  as  he  drew  near  the  close  of  his  life. 
Many  and  earnest  were  the  prayers  which  he  poured  out  for 
the  prosperity  of  the  United  States. 

One  minister,  being  asked  what  character  he  would  give 
Mr.  Belden,  replied,  "  I  have  ever  looked  upon  him  as  a  wor- 
thy good  man,  correct  in  his  theological  sentiments,  and  a 
pungent,  powerful  preacher." 


KEY.     DR.    .loAB     BRACE. 


Rev.    Dr.    Brace. 


L.    S.    Deming. 


Rev.  Dr.  Joab  Brace  had  been  pastor  of  this  church  27 
years,  or  ;i  little  more  than  one-half  of  his  ministry,  when  in 
\^'.\2  I  was  received  as  a  member  at  the  age  of  13.  During 
the  23  succeeding  years  1  received  from  him  choice  spiritual 
guidance  and  encouragement.  He  was  indeed,  as  you  may 
read  on  his  tombstone,  "A  good  minister  of  Jesus  Christ," 
faithful  to  his  Master  and  faithful  to  his  people. 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  57 

My  earliest  remembrance  of  him  is  in  connection  with  a 
weekly  service  on  Thursday  evening  at  the  Bell  school  house. 
This  was  away  back  in  1H24  or  1825.  The  attendance  had 
become  small,  and  he  proposed  to  discontinue  the  meeting, 
but  when  it  closed  my  sainted  mother  went  to  him.  and  said  : 
"  Mr.  Brace,  as  long  as  myself  and  one  of  my  family  are  here, 
won't  you  come  and  meet  us  ?" 

It  decided  him  favorably,  and  ever  after,  as  Long  as  I 
resided  here,  lie  ami  his  successors  continued  the  meeting, 
greatly  to  the  spiritual  uplifting  of  those  attending  it.  Some 
of  those  here  present  remember  how,  and  what,  he  preached; 
and  how  heartily,  too,  he  sung  the  songs  of  Zion.  We  re- 
member, too.  the  Village  Hymn  Book  that  we  carried  to  the 
meeting  in  one  hand,  while  in  the  other  was  borne  the  can- 
dle or  Lamp  that  Lighted  up  the  place  for  sacred  truth's  dis- 
play. 

Our  pastor  knew  every  man.  woman  and  child  within  the 
boundaries  of  the  place;  yea.  and  more,  he  would  know  every 
visitor  and  stranger,  though  tarrying  only  for  a  day.  and  I 
may  almost  affirm  all  travelers  who  passed  in  the  highways. 
He  closely  identified  himself  with  every  important  interest  of 
the  community,  often  sacrificing  his  own  for  their  benefit. 
He  sought  the  good  of  all  and  especially  sought  for  each  one 
spiritual  prosperity.  Preaching  from  the  text,  "  That  I  may 
present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus,"  he  lifted  his 
glasses  and  looked  with  his  bright  black  eye  into  the  face  of 
each  one  in  the  audience,  and  then  in  thought  embraced 
every  one  in  the  community  as  he  told  us  how  earnest  he 
was  to  lead  every  one  to  Jesus  Christ,  so  that  no  one  within 
the  limits  of  the  parish  might  fail  to  possess  eternal  life  ;  and 
then,  turning  to  the  pew  at  his  right  hand,  he  said.  "  There  is 
my  wife,  who  knows  all  my  weakness  and  my  sin,  but  I 
want  to  so  preach  the  Gospel  that  she  and  you  and  myself 
may  not  fail  of  Christ's  salvation." 

Thus  pointed  and  personal  was  his  ministry  and  preach- 
ing. 

It  will  be  44  years  next  January  since  Dr.  Brace  resigned 
his  active  ministry  in  this  place.  We  well  remember  the 
anniversary  sermon  at  the  close  of  his  50  years  of  service  in 
which  he  said.  "  Were  1  asked  now  at  the  close  of  my  •'>()  years' 
stay  with  you,  and  were  it  possible  to  go  back  to  its  com- 
mencement with  all  the  knowledge  I  now  possess  of  yon  and 
the  work,  would  I  choose  the  ministry  and  locate  with  you  in 
Newington  ?  I  should  answer.  Yes.  with  all  my  heart."  Thus 
deep  was  his  love  for  his  work  and  his  people.     And  yet.  he 


58  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

bad  outlived  all   but  one  of  the  members  of  his  church  who 
were  present  at  his  ordination. 

Looking  around  upon  his  people  at  the  anniversary,  he 
said.  ■•  All  these  are  my  children.  I  baptized  them,  and  they 
have  grown  up  around  me.  They  don't  know  that  I  didn't 
Bproul  and  grow  right  here.  They  have  looked  upon  me  as  a 
permanent  fixture. 

His  attachment  to  the  young  was  one  marked  characteristic 
of  his  ministry.  It  was  the  secret  of  his  long  stay  in  our  pas- 
torate. Three  years  previous  to  the  anniversary,  he  had 
reached  the  age  of  70,  and,  in  accordance  with  an  early 
formed  determination,  he  asked  for  the  close  of  his  active 
ministry  as  not  being  willing  to  burden  his  people  with  an 
old-age  minister.  It  was  then  that  the  young  people  rallied 
and  some  20  of  the  young  men  came  into  the  society  meeting, 
and  joined,  that  they  might  have  a  voice  in  the  matter,  and  a 
vote  in  its  settlement.  Seven  votes  only  in  the  entire  congre- 
gation  were  found  willing  to  accept  the  proposal.  What  a 
testimony  of  faithfulness  and  acceptable  service  after  47 
years  !  It  put  new  life  into  his  preaching,  and  it  was  never 
better  received. 

The  three  added  years  were  nearly  ended,  and  Dr.  Brace, 
with  wife  and  children  and  people,  had  arranged  and  pre- 
pared for  the  closing  anniversary,  when  suddenly  at  mid- 
night he  waked  from  sleep  to  find  his  wife  as  suddenly 
departing  by  the  embrace  of  death.  He  was  left  alone  in 
the  house. 

And  so  virulent  was  her  disease,  and  so  death-dealing,  that 
physicians  called  for  a  private  and  speedy  burial.  Six  of  us 
were  called  in  to  perform  the  service,  and  without  a  child  or 
relative  near  him,  Dr.  Brace  bent  over  the  grave,  and,  with 
his  right  hand  upon  his  breast  as  if  to  hold  the  beatings  of  a 
throbbing  heart,  he  feelingly  said,  "There  lies  my  light,  my 
I  itV,  my  joy  for  this  world  ;"  and  his  and  our  eyes  were  veiled 
with  tears. 

This  event  came  Nov.  16,  1854,  only  two  months  before 
the  appointed  anniversary.  His  ordination  at  the  com- 
mencement  of  his  ministry  was  on  Jan.  16,  1805,  and  the 
marriage  with  his  life  companion  (Lucy  Collins)  was  on  Jan. 
21,1805.  His  children  and  friends  had  planned  for  a  jubi- 
Lee  wedding.  Great  were  the  expectations  and  preparations 
of  Dr.  Brace  and  wife  and  children  and  people  for  the  com- 
bined anniversary  occasion.  Her  sudden  death  shrouded  all 
with  a  cloud  of  sorrow.  She  had  been  truly  his  life  and  joy 
a  worthy  helpmeet  and  companion  in  his  home  and  minis- 


NEWTNGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  59 

try,  beloved  and  respected  by  all  who  knew  her. 

Slit'  was  remarkable  for  decision  and  efficiency  of  ad- 
ministration, for  cool  and  correct  judgment,  thai  Beemed  to 
come  almost   instantly  when  needed. 

One  little  incident  of  the  wedding  day  in  L805  shows 
both  his  perseverance  and  her  promptness  of  decision.  The 
day  had  been  exceedingly  stormy  and  snow  had  banked  up- 
on the  roads.  The  sleigh  overturned  repeatedly  that  carried 
Mr.  Brace  at  the  age  of  23,  and  another  young  man,  to  the 
home  of  the  bride  in  West  Hartford,  and  they  arrived  only 
at  a  late  hour  in  the  evening.  He  playfully  said.  "  Lucy, 
you  hardly  expected  me  in  such  a  storm."  "  Yes,  I  did.  if 
you  were  alive."  Heart  with  heart  and  hand  in  hand  they 
walked  the  pathways  of  life  for  nearly  50  years. 

To  supplement  his  small  salary  and  provide  for  the 
education  of  the  children,  they  for  many  years  kept  a  family 
school,  receiving  young  men  and  preparing  them  for  college. 
As  an  educator  he  was  thorough  and  successful.  He  assisted 
greatly  in  educating  the  youth  of  the  community,  always  a 
regular  visitor  of  the  schools  and  often  dropping  in  when 
not  expected.  Often,  and  perhaps  always,  he  combined  re- 
ligious counsel  with  his  approval  of  teacher  and  children. 
On  one  such  occasion,  he  was  quietly  seated  for  sometime 
and  watched  the  school  exercises  with  (dose  attention. 
Then,  rising  to  leave,  he  bent  forward  and  with  a  full  voice 
said.  •"Children,  always  remember.  'Thou  God  seest  me/" 
and  bowed  himself  out. 

The  death  of  his  wife  made  necessary  the  breaking  up 
of  his  home  and  the  last  seven  years  of  his  life  were  passed 
with  his  daughter  in  Pittsfield.  Death  came  soon  after  the 
fall  of  Sumter.  April  14.  1861.  Dr.  Brace  was  eminently  a 
man  of  peace.  He  had  been  grieved  greatly  by  events  Lead- 
ing on  to  the  open  conflict  and  prayed  earnestly  that  lie 
might  not  live  to  hear  the  alarm  of  war.  In  his  sickness  of 
comparatively  short  duration  his  friends  told  him  nothing  of 
the  open  conflict  and  his  prayer  was  granted.  Death  came 
to  him.  April  20.  1861,  at  the  right  hour.  It  was  with  diffi- 
culty and  with  delay  that  his  remains  were  brought  to  New- 
tngton,  as  cars  were  loaded  with  soldiers  and  equipments 
hastening  to  the  defence  of  the  national  capital.  But  in  the 
ground  he  had  chosen  we  laid  him  at  rest. 

He  was  not  constitutionally  demonstrative  or  emotional. 
His  research  and  Investigation  of  subjects  ran  on  practical 
lines.  In  sermonizing  be  usually  made  personal  application 
and  improvement  as  he  went  along  with   his  theme,   never 


BO  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

attempting  to  open  up  mysteries  or  travel  the  labyrinths  of 
speculative  metaphysics.  He,  however,  made  a  good  use  of 
all  the  scholarly  attainments  he  had  reached,  leading  always 
a  busy  life  divided  between  study  and  necessary  hand  toil. 
He  was  a  good  Hebrew  scholar,  and  became  so  familiar  with 
his  Hebrew  Bible  as  to  prefer  it  for  his  private  reading.  He 
could  in  that  language  better  understand  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures. 

His  sermons  were  usually  written,  but  sometimes  ex  tem- 
pore, without  special  preparation.  And  these  often  were  his 
best  efforts. 

His  fruitful  works  have  followed  him  in  a  community  of 
men  and  women  who  have  been  God-fearing  and  Christ- 
loving  in  all  years  of  Christian  service.  He  filled  50  years  of 
preaching  within  these  consecrated  walls,  and  aided  with 
counsel  many  a  weary  pilgrim  in  his  march  Zionward.  So  we 
can  all  say,  "  Amen,"  as  we  read  the  inscription  on  his  monu- 
ment, "  A  good  minister  of  Jesus  Christ." 


KEY      WILLIAM      P. 


Rev.    W.    P.    Aiken. 


Edwin    Stanley    Welles. 


William  Pope  Aiken,  second  son  and  second  child  of 
Oapt.  Lemuel  8.  and  Sarah  Coffin  Aiken,  was  horn  in 
the   town   of   Fairhaven,   Mass..   July   9,    1825.     He  was   a 

precocious  child   and  it    is  recalled  of  him   that    on    his  third 
birthday  he  read   in  the  New  Testament.     From   tin-   begin- 


62  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

aing  he  was  an  omnivorous  reader,  and,  as  a  lad,  he  cared  lit- 
tle for  boyish  sports,  preferring  a  book  to  a  game  of  ball.  He 
was  moreover,  sensitive  and  retiring  in  nature,  and  shunned 
the  rougher  activities  of  life.  From  the  day  he  began  to  read, 
the  thirst  for  knowledge  was  in  him.  There  are  few  boys 
that  love  study,  but  he  really  loved  it. 

The  sister  nearest  his  own  age  relates  that  almost  her 
first  recollection  of  him  goes  back  to  the  days  when,  as  a 
little  fellow,  he  organized  a  church  and  preached  to  a  con- 
gregation consisting  of  herself  and  a  younger  brother;  and 
how  he  would  stop  and  beg  them  not  to  laugh  as  he  held 
forth  in  imitation  of  the  village  preacher  !  This  sister  re- 
calls the  kindliness  of  his  heart,  noticeable  even  in  those 
early  days.  She  writes  :  "  When  the  boys  came  of  an  even- 
ing, as  was  their  wont,  to  play  in  the  orchard,  William 
would  leave  them  all  to  go  and  cut  wood   for  a  poor  woman." 

Meanwhile  a  great  purpose  was  possessing  him,  and  that 
was  to  get,  if  possible,  a  collegiate  education.  With  this 
determination,  he  attended  the  normal  school  at  Bridgewater, 
Mass.,  when  he  had  finished  his  schooling  in  Fairhaven. 
After  a  course  there,  he  taught  school  in  his  native  place,  and 
then  entered  Monson  academy,  where  he  thoroughly  fitted 
himself  for  college.  He  was  now  24  years  old,  older  indeed 
than  most  of  those  who  have  taken  their  college  degrees,  and 
he  felt  keenly  the  disparity  between  his  age  and  that  of  his 
classmates. 

But  his  youth  had  known  the  sorrows  of  ill  health,  when 
for  a  season  what  was  most  precious  to  him,  his  studies,  had 
to  be  abandoned.  He  had  also  been  obliged  to  interrupt 
them  during  his  teaching,  and  thus  he  stood  on  the  thresh- 
old of  his  college  career  with  these  added  years  of  discipline, 
a  part  of  his  best  life. 

In  more  than  one  respect,  that  waiting  season  had  been 
good  for  him.  as  he  entered  the  justly  famous  class  of  '53,  of 
Yale  College.  No  class  in  the  annals  of  Yale,  unless  it  be 
that  of  1837,  has  sent  forth  so  many  distinguished  men. 

Bishop  Davies  of  Michigan;  the  late  Senator  Gibson  of 
Louisiana;  Wayne  McYeagh,  once  Attorney  General  of  the 
United  States  and  lately  our  Ambassador  to  Italy;  George 
Shiras,  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court:  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman,  the  poet,  and  Andrew  D. 
White,  formerly  president  of  Cornell  and  now  our  Ambas- 
sador to  Germany,  not  to  mention  others  of  only  less  renown, 
w*re  members  of  the  class  of  '53.  But  Mr.  Aiken  was  one 
of  the  marked  men  of  that  remarkable  class. 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  63 

His  conversational  powers,  his  fine  literary  tastes,  his 
profound  scholarship  and  his  lofty  ideals  combined  to  make 
him  a  man  of  unusual  attractiveness.  But  he  was  shy  in 
making  acquaintances  and  his  circle  of  friends  was  small. 
Only  a  few  knew  intimately  the  modest,  brilliant  student 
who  kept  his  room  so  closely. 

As  a  young  man  he  was  distinguished  in  appearance. 
Already  he  had  somewhat  of  the  scholar's  stoop  and 
with  those  flashing  black  eyes  that  pierced  into  the  depths 
of  things,  eyes  that  could  soften  with  tenderness  or  blaze 
with  indignation,  with  a  noble  crown  of  forehead,  and  a  mo- 
bile, sympathetic  mouth,  quick  and  energetic  in  his  move- 
ments whether  physical  or  mental,  his  was  a  noticeable  figure 
anywhere. 

In  his  college  course  he  won  a  prize  for  high  scholar- 
ship and  was  elected  a  member  of  Skull  and  Bones  Society, 
always  a  much  coveted  distinction  among  Yale  men.  At 
graduation  he  ranked  among  the  foremost  in  his  class.  He 
then  served  for  a  while  as  tutor  in  the  family  of  Mayor 
Skinner  of  New  Haven,  who  received  a  few  pupils  into  his 
fine  home.  From  1855  until  1857,  he  was  tutor  of  Latin  in 
his  own  alma  mater.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  most  pop- 
ular tutor  then  at  Yale. 

He  had  a  keen  insight  into  human  nature,  which  was 
tempered  with  a  large  sympathetic  humor.  It  was  not  an 
awful  ordeal  to  recite  to  him.  The  humanness  of  his  nature 
drew  the  students;  and  then,  what  flashes  of  wit,  what  bril- 
liant comments  illumined  those  recitations  ! 

One  who  sat  under  his  instruction  writes:  "His  superior 
scholarship,  his  unvarying  kindliness  and  his  rare  tact  in 
teaching,  secured  for  him  the  respect  and  affection  of  every 
member  of  the  class.  His  somewhat  nervous  temperament, 
his  admiration  of  '  sure-footed'  scholarship  (to  use  his 
words)  and  the  pain  which  unsuccessful  recitations  gave  him 
never  affected  his  patience  in  the  presence  of  the  honest  but 
ungifted  student." 

Meanwhile,  during  these  years  of  tutorship,  he  was 
studying  theology  and  fitting  himself  to  be  a  minister  of 
Jesus  Christ.  One  Sunday  early  in  the  year  1866,  he  stood 
in  this  pulpit,  then  vacant  by  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Brace, 
and  preached  to  a  people  who  heard  him  gladly. 

A  few  Sundays  later,  again  he  occupied  the  pulpit  and 
the  result  was  a  vote  of  the  church.  March  3,  1856,  "That 
we  make  choice  of  and  invite  Mr.  William  P.  Aiken  to  be- 
come colleague  pastor  with  Rev.  Dr.  Brace." 


64  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

This,  his  first  call,  was  joyfully  accepted  by  Mr.  Aiken, 
who  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  in  this  building  Tuesday, 
Jan.  l-~>.  1857,  President  Woolsey  of  Yale  preaching  the  ser- 
mon. For  ten  years  he  served  the  people  here.  The  mut- 
terings  of  the  great  civil  war  were  already  being  faintly 
heard  as  he  began  his  ministry,  and  then  the  storm  of  war 
burst  upon  the  nation  ! 

Those  thrilling  years  tried  all  men's  souls.  Some  in  this 
room  remember  his  fervent  words  as  he  addressed  the  men 
who  went  forth  to  battle.  And  one  old  veteran  still  treas- 
ures up  one  of  his  stirring  exhortations,  "  Don't  get  shot  in 
the  heel!" 

Later,  when  the  need  of  consolation  came,  and  it  came 
so  often  in  the  nation's  agony,  how  he  could  comfort  the 
suffering  and  the  sorrowing  !  The  eloquence  of  sincerity 
was  in  all  he  said. 

What  the  character  of  his  ministry  was,  not  a  few  here 
to-day  can  testify.  He  was  a  bold,  uncompromising  preach- 
er of  righteousness.  No  one  was  in  doubt  as  to  what  his 
opinions  were.     He  abhorred  dissimulation  in  all  its  forms. 

He  cared  for  the  great  essentials  of  Christianity  and 
scorned  to  waste  his  time  on  religious  trifles. 

He  preached  the  love  of  Christ;  man's  need  of  God  and 
his  capacity  for  receiving  Him,  the  greatness  of  the  life  here, 
as  well  as  the  glory  of  the  life  hereafter.  And  he  wanted  all 
to  enjoy  the  boundless  treasures  of  eternal  life. 

With  his  poetic  soul,  he  was  ever  conscious  of 
The  light  that  never  was,  on  sea  or  land  ; 
The  consecration,  and  the  Poet's  dream. 

His  sermons  were  always  scholarly,  but  never  dry.  They 
could  not  be  with  his  imagination  irradiating  them. 

They  might  be  termed  brilliant  sermons;  sometimes 
startling,  but  they  were  the  powerful  efforts  of  a  complex 
nature  to  penetrate  and  make  known  some  of  the  mysteries 
of  God.  But  I  think  he  enjoyed  mingling  with  his  people 
in  their  homes  better  than  preaching  eloquent  sermons. 
His  love  went  out  to  every  living  creature,  and  wherever 
there  was  suffering,  there  he  was  to  comfort.  In  his  minis- 
trations the  poor  and  neglected  were  first  on  his  mind.  It 
was  his  delight  to  obey  the  apostle's  injunction,  to  "rejoice 
with  them  that  rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  that  weep." 

In  after  days,  when  looking  back  upon  his  life,  he  used 
to  say  that  the  years  he  spent  in  Newington  were  the  hap- 
piest years  he  had  known.  It  was  a  mutual  sorrow  on  the 
part  of  both  pastor  and  people  when  he  resigned  his   minis- 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  66 

try  in  1867.  Early  in  his  pastorate  he  had  married  Miss 
Susan  C.  Edgerton,  daughter  of  the  Eon.  Edwin  Edgerton 
of  Rutland.  Vermont,  and  his  children,  two  sons  and  two 
daughters,  were  all  born  in  Newington'  The  oldest  of  these, 
Rev.  Edwin  E.  Aiken,  consecrated  his  life  to  the  cause  of 
missions  in  China,  a  dozen  years  ago. 

The  rest  of  his  life  may  be  briefly  indicated.  Upon 
leaving  here,  he  became  principal  of  Abbott  academy  at 
Groton,  Mass.,  but  ill  health  compelled  him  to  withdraw  in 
two  years.  Later,  he  was  for  three  years  acting  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  church  in  Vergennes,  Vermont.  But  his 
health  had  long  been  forsaking  him,  and  his  hist  years  were 
spent  in  an  invalid's  retirement  at  Rutland.  Vermont. 

The  sufferings  of  those  years  were  great,  but  he  endured 
them  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  out  of  them  all 
he  passed  to  the  larger  life  with  God,  March  31,  1884. 


Rev.    Robert  G.   Vermilye.    D.    D. 

1870-1873. 
Roger     Welles. 

The  Rev.  Robert  George  Vermilye  was  born  March  3, 
1813,  in  New  York  City,  the  son  of  'William  \V.  and  Mary 
(Montgomery)  Vermilye-  He  died  at  Hartford.  July  5.  1875. 
He  supplied  the  pulpit  of  the  Congregational  church  in 
Newington,  from  the  second  Sabbath  in  June,  1870,  until 
Nov.  2,  1873,  when  he  ceased  his  services  on  account  of  fail- 
ing health. 

Dr.  Vermilye  graduated  at  Columbia  College,  New  York, 
in  1831.  In  December,  1837,  he  was  appointed  a  professor 
of  Greek  and  Latin  in  that  college.  He  was  licensed  as  a 
minister  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York.  April  L9, 
1838,  and  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  in  German  Valley,  New  Jersey,  in  July.  1843. 
He  was  afterwards  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Con- 
gregational church  in  Clinton,  Oneida  County,  N.  Y.. 
where  he  was  installed  June  10,  184ft.  He  received 
the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from   his    Alma 


66  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

Mater  in  L851,  when  38  years  old.  In  1857  he  was  elected 
to  the  Professorship  of  Systematic  Theology  in  the  Connect- 
cut  Theological  Institute  then  located  at  East  Windsor,  which 
position  he  held  till  his  death.  His  call  to  the  temporary 
pastorate  of  the  church  in  Newington  was  by  a  unanimous 
vi. te  of  the  society,  and  in  renewing  the  invitation  each  year 
the  vote  was  unanimous  in  every  instance.  This  action  of 
the  society  indicated  the  sentiments  of  the  people.  His 
high  qualities  as  a  christian  gentleman  and  a  faithful  min- 
ister of  Christ  were  acknowledged  by  all. 

In  social  intercourse  he  was  kindly  and  genial,  and 
won  the  hearts  of  his  congregation.  They  venerated  his 
piety  and  purity  of  heart,  and  at  the  same  time  felt  an 
honest  pride  in  his  large  knowledge  and  ability.  It  was  the 
custom  to  hold  a  Sunday-school  concert  on  the  second  Sab- 
bath afternoon  of  each  month,  and  Dr.  Verm  dye  added 
greatly  to  the  enjoyment  and  profit  of  the  service  by  inaugu- 
rating a  question  box,  and  answering  off-hand  the  questions 
propounded,  giving  variety  and  novelty,  solving  doubts, 
clearing  knotty  points,  and  giving  us  occasional  opportunity 
to  learn  no  little  theology.  If  we  sometimes  took  delight  in 
asking  hard  questions  our  delight  was  increased  by  the 
skillful  manner  in  which  he  answered  them. 

When  he  first  came  to  us  his  health  seemed  firm,  and  his 
step  was  quick  and  elastic.  He  continued  with  us  till  failing 
voice  and  health  compelled  him  to  desist.  He  chose  to  close 
his  ministry  with  us  on  communion  Sabbath,  and  as  he  dis- 
pensed for  the  last  time  the  symbols  of  our  Saviour's  dying 
love,  and  spoke  his  own  parting  words,  the  tearful  eyes  of  the 
congregation  testified  their  love,  sympathy  and  sorrow.  We 
sorrowed  most  of  all  for  the  words  that  we  should  see  his 
face  no  more.  It  was  the  last  time  he  preached.  His  funeral 
was  attended  at  the  Center  church,  Hartford,  on  Wednesday 
afternoon,  July  7,  1875,  whence  his  mortal  remains  were  car- 
ried to  the  vault  at  Cedar  Hill  cemetery.  A  few  minutes 
before  his  death  he  committed  himself  to  his  Lord,  whom  he 
had  served  so  long,  in  these  words  :  "  And  now,  O  my 
Saviour,  keep  me  in  life  or  death  ;  I  commit  myself  to 
Thee." 


Rev.  Sanford  S.  A\artyn. 

Charles    K.    Atwood. 

When  a  small  boy  my  father  took  me  with  him  to  wit- 
ness a  " general  training  at  Windsor.  During  the  day  he 
met  many  acquaintances  with  whom  he  had  conversation. 
Of  it  all  I  remember  but  one  brief  sentence — a  remark  of 
Gen.  Hillyer  that  "The  Longer  I  live  the  more  I  think  of 
blood."  It  gave  a  new  idea  to  the  boy  and  its  impression 
was  deep  and  lasting,  so  that  in  later  years  as  he  hears  of 
the  success  or  failure  of  a  man  he  is  apt  to  ask:  Who  was 
his  father  ?  And  what  of  his  family  ?  Naturally,  therefore, 
when  asked  to  prepare  a  brief  memorial  of  Rev.  Sanford  S. 
Martyn,  a  former  pastor,  to  be  read  on  this  our  anniversary 
day.  the  writer  was  led  to  look  into  his  genealogy,  and  know- 
ing the  man.  his  ability,  his  zeal  for  his  calling,  and  his 
marked  success,  was  not  surprised  to  find  that  not  only  his 
father,  but  his  grandfather  and  his  great-grandfather  had 
been,  each  in  his  day.  a  minister  of  the  gospel :  and  his  son, 
born  here  during  his  brief  pastorate,  has  entered  on  the  same 
work.  Five  indirect  descent!  May  the  line  continue  till 
the  time  comes  when  there  will  be  no  need  of  ministers  to 
say  :  "  Know  thou  the  Lord  !"  While  attributing  so  much 
importance  to  heredity  I  would  by  no  means  underrate  en- 
vironment. Doubtless  while  he  resided  with  us  its  influence 
was  helpful  and  beneficial  !  He  was  welcomed  to  the  pastor- 
ate by  a  people  capable  of  appreciating  his  ability  and  ready 
to  encourage  and  assist  him  in  his  labor  by  word  and  deed, 
thus  stimulating  him  to  continued  effort  for  higher  attain- 
ment. Even  unconscious  childhood  yielded  a  helpful  influ- 
ence. In  one  of  his  letters  he  writes:  "  I  always  thought  the 
boys  and  girls  in  the  Sunday-school  were  the  brightest  and 
the  prettiest,  too,  I  ever  knew."  and  nearly  thirty  years  after- 
wards he  adds.  "  I  think  so  still." 

After  Mr.  Aiken  left  us  in  the  summer  of  1867,  we  were 
for  some  months  without  a  pastor  or  stated  supply.  We 
were  looking  for  some  one  to  fill  the  vacancy  his  withdrawal 
had  left.  Early  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  a  temporary 
resident,  not  a  member  of  this,  nor  I  think  of  any  other 
church,  expressed  to  Rev.  Mr.  Ross,  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
Church  in  West  Hartford,  a  wish  that  he  would  come  to 
Newington  and  hold  week  day  meetings.     He  consented,  and 


68  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES. 

the  disused  Methodist  church  was  placed  at  his  disposal. 
The  attendance,  at  first  small,  gradually  increased  with  grow- 
ing interest,  until  more  room  was  needed,  and  early  in  the 
wint.r  this  house  was  opened,  our  church  heartily  uniting 
with  and  aiding  Mr.  Ross  in  his  work. 

In  November  Mr.  Martyn.  a  graduate  of  Yale  University, 
where  he  took  an  honorable  stand  as  a  scholar  and  received 
many  prizes  for  superiority  in  writing,  speaking  and  debat- 
ing, at  this  time  a  member  of  the  senior  class  in  Yale 
Theological  Seminary,  came  to  preach  for  one  Sabbath.  He 
was  favorably  received  and  engaged  for  further  service.  In 
short  he  supplied  for  six  months,  during  which  he  preached 
morning  and  afternoon,  as  was  then  our  custom,  and  led  in 
the  evening  service,  all  the  while  maintaining  his  position 
in  his  class  and  engaging  in  outside  labor  in  New  Haven  to 
obtain  the  means  of  self  support.  Surely  those  were  months 
of  labor  ! 

From  the  first  Mr.  Martyn  engaged  earnestly  in  the 
work  of  calling  men  to  repentance,  and  his  Sabbath  dis- 
courses were  in  line  with  those  of  Mr.  Ross  during  the  week. 
In  that  winter  more  than  fifty  hopeful  conversions  were  re- 
ported. In  February  a  meeting  of  the  church  was  held  to 
choose  a  pastor.  There  was  no  doubt  on  whom  the  choice 
would  fall. 

A  paper  signed  by  twenty-seven  non-church-members, 
expressing  their  intention  to  ask  admission  soon,  and  their 
preference  for  Mr.  Martyn  as  pastor,  was  presented  and  read 
and  by  vote  of  the  church  ordered  to  be  preserved  on  its 
records. 

Mr.  Martyn  accepted  the  call  of  church  and  society  and 
was  ordained  in  April.  For  two  years  the  relation  of  pastor 
and  people  continued.  Then  came  the  resignation.  He 
had  been  called  to  New  Hartford. 

With  regret  the  advice  of  the  council  was  accepted,  and 
his  relation  to  us  since  has  been  but  a  pleasant  memory. 
Like  Paul  he  seems  to  have  been  appointed  to  the  care  of 
many  churches,  being  now  in  his  seventh  pastorate,  flattering 
calls  to  others  with  a  much  larger  salary  having  been  de- 
clined, and  like  him  he  has  been  permitted  to  rejoice  and  to 
gather  in  many  of  the  fruits  of  his  labor,  the  churches  to 
which  he  has  ministered  having  been  strengthened  by  the 
addition  of  more  than  five  hundred  new  members,  his  "  joy 
and  crown/'  Serious  dissensions  existing  before,  and  at  the 
time  of,  his  settlement  have  in  two  notable  instances  been 
healed.     From  some  of  them  the  writer  has  received  testi- 


NEW1NGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  69 

monials  of  their  warm  affection  for  their  former  pastor,  and 
their  sincere  regret  for  his  departure. 

These  results  indicate  the  man  and  the  preacher,  so 
that  I  need  QOt  dilate  on  his  sermons.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  while  scholarly,  eloquent  and  abreast  of  the  times,  they 
were  spiritual,  devout,  sincere,  teaching  the  truths  he  be- 
lieved and  had  experienced. 

Socially  he  was  no  less  a  favorite  than  in  the  pulpit.  In 
manner  and  conversation  frank,  genial,  winning,  accompan- 
ied by  his  estimable  and  popular  wife,  a  most  worthy  help- 
meet for  a  minister,  he  was  sure  of  a  welcome  wherever  he 
chose  to  call  and  found  the  latchstrings  of  his  people's  homes 
always  out. 

He  is  now  in  the  prime  of  life  with  the  prospect  of  many 
useful  years  before  him.  Long  may  he  continue  to  deserve 
the  epitaph  on  the  stone  which  covers  the  hallowed  dust  of 
Dr.  Brace  and  late  may  it  be  written. 


REV.    WILLIAM    J.    THOMSON. 


Rev.   W.   J.   Thomson. 


dohn    S.    Kirkham. 


William  Jamieson  Thomson,  born  July  21,  1840,  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  received  his  early  education  in  the  schools 
of  that  city,  graduated  from  Columbia  college  and  after- 
ward from  Princeton  seminary  where  he  was  offered  a  pro- 
fessorship, but,having  early  consecrated  his  life  to  "  the  min- 
istry of  the  Word,"  he  declined  and  after  a  few  months' 
travel  abroad,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  parish  of  Croton 
Falls,  N.  Y. 

He  married  Sadelia  Sherwood,  daughter  of  a  prominent 
lawyer  of  New  York  city,  soon  after  returning  from  Europe. 
Mr.  Thomson's  pastorate  at  Croton  Falls  of  four  years  was 
cut  short  by  ill  health,  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomson  having 
contracted  malaria  in  the  parsonage,  situated  directly  on  the 
bank   of   Croton   river.      Much   against   the    wishes   of  the 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,      1897.  71 

church  and  parish,  he  removed  to  Seymour,  Conn.,  where  he 
preached  two  years  as  stated  Bupply. 

From  Seymour  he  came-  to  Newin^ton,  accepting  a 
practically  unanimous  call  from  both  church  and  parish.      He 

was  installed  May  -7,  1875,   Rev.  Aaron  Adams  of  Wethers- 

field  being  moderator  of  the  council,  and   lleinan  K.    Timlow 

of  Southington   scribe.     Mr.  Adams  is   the  only  one  of  that 

council  with  us  to-day  and  with  grateful  hearts  wc  greet  him. 

Mr.  Thomson  continued  to  minister  to  this  people  four 
years  and  three  months,  at  the  end  of  which  we  reluctantly 
accepted  his  resignation.  He  ministered  temporarily  to  the 
people  of  South  Glastonbury  two  years,  though  not  expect- 
ing to  stay  a  definite  time  when  he  went.  From  there  he 
went  to  the  church  at  Fast  Canaan.  Conn.,  where  after  two 
years  of  labor,  broken  at  times  by  ill  health  and  extreme 
Buffering,  he  finished  his  life  work  and  died  as  bravely  as  he 
had  lived,  aged  1 1  years,  a  ^ood  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ. 

When  Mr.  Thomson  canu1  to  us,  he  was  just  entering 
manhood's  prime,  a  fine  picture  of  physical  strength  and 
manliness.  Perhaps  it  was  that  that  first  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  the  young,  for  when  engaged  in  any  athletic  game, 
they  were  sure  of  at  least  one  sympathetic  spectator.  Al- 
though not  obtrusive,  he  had  a  happy  faculty  of  winning  and 
then  influencing  the  young  to  the  beautiful  service  of  self 
sacrifice,  in  following  the  Master.  Mr.  Thomson  was  pre- 
eminently a  man  of  faith  and  rested  with  more  cheerful  cer- 
tainty on  God's  promises  of  ^ood  to  him  and  his  than  chil- 
dren do  on  an  earthly  parent.  "He  believed  God,  audit 
was  counted  unto  him  for  righteousness."  His  life  was  an 
illustration  of  "simply  trusting  every  day"  for  every  day's 
needs. 

In  my  recollections  of  Mr.  Thomson,  this  stanza  has 
come  to  me  o'er  and  o'er: 

How  pure  of  heart  and  sound  in  head, 

With  what  divine  affections  hold 
Should  he  the  man  whose  thought  would  hold 

An  hour's  communion  with  the  dead. 

And  with  Nature's  own  poet  I  can  say  of  him: 

His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements 

So  mixed  in  him  that  Nature  might  stand  up 

And  say  to  all  the  world,  "This  was  a  man  !" 

His  last  hours  were  marked  by  the  same  sublime  faith 
and  trust  that  ruled  his  life.  "  He  walked  with  God  and 
was  not,  for  God  took  him." 


Rev.    J.    E.    Elliott. 

A\iss    Agnes    W.    Belden. 

Rev.  John  E.  Elliott,  a  descendant  of  Elder  Brewster, 
was  born  in  New  London,  Oct.  22,  1829.  He  was  consecrat- 
ed to  the  Lord  and  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  his  infancy, 
by  his  mother,  who  was  a  woman  of  intense  piety.  In  his 
boyhood  and  early  manhood  he  manifested  an  earnest  Christ- 
ian character.  He  was  graduated  from  Amherst  college  in 
1857,  and  from  Hartford  Theological  Seminary  (then  at 
East  Windsor)  in  1860. 

After  leaving  the  seminary,  he  married  Miss  Mary  A. 
Thomson  of  East  Windsor,  who  through  all  his  ministry 
proved  a  valuable  helpmeet.  Prevented  by  the  condition  of 
his  health  from  going  as  a  missionary  to  the  foreign  field,  he 
greatly  desired  to  be  a  home  missionary  in  the  far  West,  but 
was  detained  in  Connecticut  a  few  years. 

He  was  ordained  in  the  Congregational  church  in  Ridge- 
bury,  where  he  became  pastor.  Afterward  he  was  settled  in 
Higganum.  The  way  being  then  opened  to  carry  out  his 
long  cherished  purpose,  he  went  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Home  Missionary  Society  to  Iowa,  and  thence  to  Neb- 
raska. In  1874,  on  account  of  the  death  of  a  brother  and 
sister,  he  felt  called,  for  the  sake  of  his  aged  widowed 
mother,  to  make  his  home  in  the  East.  After  serving  the 
church  in  South  Glastonbury  a  few  years,  he  was  called  to 
this  church,  where  he  remained  from  1879  until  1884.  His 
whole  ministry  was  characterized  by  intense  earnestness  and 
perseverance  in  whatever  he  undertook,  and  he  was  continu- 
ally studying  and  planning  for  those  things  which  would  add 
to  the  usefulness  and  spirituality  of  his  people.  He  was 
very  desirous  of  the  financial  good  of  the  church.  While  he 
was  in  Newington,  the  large  debt  of  the  ecclesiastical  society 
was  canceled,  and  great  were  his  efforts  to  interest  his  peo- 
ple in  the  proposition  to  build  a  chapel. 

By  his  efforts  a  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor was  formed  in  this  church.  He  had  great  love  and 
respect  for  his  mother  and  often  used  to  refer  with  expres- 
sions of  gratitude  to  the  fact  that  she  was  praying  for  him 
and  his  church.  Perhaps  it  was  partly  owing  to  this  love 
that  the  aged  members  of  his  flock  were  treated  with  such 
courtesy.  He  was  firm  and  fearless  in  whatever  he  consid- 
ered right. 


NEWINGTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  73 

He  was  a  man  of  strict  economy,  and  was  able  to  make 
his  small  salary  cover  his  running  expenses,  although  be  was 

at  this    time    educating  his   only   child  at  Amherst,    and  was 

scrupulously  giving  his  tenth  to  the  Lord. 

After  leaving  Newington  he  was  about   three  years  in 
Bridgewater,  when  a  call  from  the  State  of  Washington  Led 

him  to  gladly  turn  his  steps  to  the  Pacific  coast,  where  he  an- 
ticipated giving  the  remaining  years  of  his  ministry  to  vig- 
orous home  missionary  work.  He  began  his  labors  then- 
Nov.  1,  but  waning  strength  soon  led  to  the  discovery  of  a 
fatal  disease  which  lurked  stealthily  in  his  system,  and 
caused  his  death  on  Jan.  19.  1888,  less  than  12  weeks  from 
the  time  of  his  arrival  in  the  new  field.  His  body  was 
brought  East  and  laid  in  the  cemetery  in  New  London. 


Rev.  J.  O.  Barrows. 

Alfred    B.    Tish. 

Rev.  John  Otis  Barrows  was  born  in  Mansfield.  Conn., 
in  1833,  youngest  of  a  large  family  of  children.  In  1860  he 
was  graduated  from  Amherst  college  and  took  his  theologi- 
cal course  at  Hartford  and  Andover  seminaries.  He  was 
called  to  North  Hampton,  N.  H.,  in  1863.  Here  he  served 
in  the  ministry  a  number  of  years,  after  which  he  was  settled 
in  the  neighboring  town  of  Exeter.  While  in  this  pleasant 
parish,  he  felt  that  God  called  him  to  the  foreign  work,  and 
in  1870  he  was  sent  by  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  as  a  missionary  to 
Turkey.  There  he  served  ten  years  and  a-half  when  he  was 
obliged  to  return  to  this  country  on  account  of  the  health  of 
his  family.  After  this,  he  preached  for  a  time  in  Atchinson, 
N.  H. 

In  1885  lie  received  a  call  to  become  pastor  of  this 
church. 

Of  Mr.  Barrows'  faithfulness  as  a  pastor  many  would 
gladly  speak.  In  time  of  sickness  and  bereavement,  the  ten- 
der self-sacrificing  ministries  of  himself  and  his  dear  wife 
linked  grateful  hearts  to  theirs  in  bonds  that  will  never  be 
broken. 

His  systematic  efforts  ta  get  non-churchgoers  to  attend 
Sabbath  services  met  with  a  measure  of  success.  After  per- 
severing attempts  on  his   part,   one   who  had   long  absented 


74  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH    ANNIVERSARIES, 

herself  remarked,  "  I  shall  have  to  go  to  church  now.  Mr. 
Barrows  will  never  let  me  alone  until  I  do." 

It  was  most  interesting  to  hear  from  him  of  the  customs 
and  habits  of  people  with  whom  a  residence  in  foreign  lands 
had  made  him  familiar;  but  beyond  instructing  and  entertain- 
ing with  these  things,  he  succeeded  in  imparting  some  of  his 
own  zeal  and  enthusiasm  in  the  cause  of  missions  as  a  record 
of  our  missionary  organizations  will  show. 

In  rebuking  wrong-doing  among  the  members  of  his 
flock,  he  was  ever  frank  and  fearless,  and  yet  speaking  the 
truth  in  love  as  to  win  the  heart  of  the  wrong  doer.  One  of 
his  parishioners  declared  after  one  of  these  occasions  that 
he  "  never  got  such  a  dressing-down  in  his  life  before,"  but 
added,  almost  in  the  same  breath,  "There  is  nobody  I  re- 
spect more  than  I  do  Mr.  Barrows,"  a  sentiment  which  he 
still  often  repeats. 

In  current  events  in  the  political  and  social  world,  he 
took  a  deep  interest  and  was  guided  to  see  and  point  out  the 
national  perils  that  lurked  in  an  easy-going  citizenship, 
great  trusts,  and  vast  monopolies.  He  had  universal  success 
in  awaking  a  sense  of  responsibility  in  those  who  had  pre- 
ferred to  stay  in  the  background  and  let  others  conduct  the 
prayer  meeting.  After  a  persuasive  interview  on  this  sub- 
ject with  a  church  official,  the  latter  finally  promised  to  lead 
the  next  meeting,  but  when  the  time  came  he  confessed  that 
he  felt  tempted  to  "  play  the  part  of  Jonah  and  run  away." 
But  he  did  not  run  away  and  since  then  has  led  many  pray- 
er meetings. 

To  the  licpuor  traffic  and  the  saloon  he  was  an  open  foe 
and  temperance  sentiment  during  his  stay  grew  apace.  The 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  was  organized  with 
his  approval  and  help  and  ever  found  in  him  a  steadfast 
friend  and  strong  ally. 

The  old  church  had  borne  for  years  a  good  reputation 
for  benevolent  offerings,  but  under  his  wise  methods  there 
was  a  large  increase.  Year  by  year  the  blessed  spirit  of  giv- 
ing grew  until  the  church  had  gained  an  enviable  promi- 
nence in  this  regard. 

Of  the  souls  saved,  of  the  lives  reconsecrated,  and  the 
spiritual  natures  that  were  deepened  and  nourished  under 
his  ministry,  who  can  adequately  speak  ? 

One  who  had  for  years  in  a  distant  city  sat  under  the 
preaching  of  eminent  men  testified  that  she  had  never  before 
been  so  helped  and  blessed  in  her  spiritual  life.  He  seemed 
always  to  be  hearing  the  words  of  the  Master  to  Peter: 
"  Feed  my  sheep." 


Rev.    S.    S.    Alartyn's    Paper 

At    Newington's    Celebi  ation. 

When  1  asked  your  pastor  upon  what  special  feature  of 
this  occasion  he  would  like  to  have  me  speak,  he  suggested 
reminiscences  of  my  ministry  here.  How  they  throng  upon 
me  as  I  stand  before  you  !  And  ye1  this  church  and  people 
arc  a  very  present  and  living  reality  to  me,  not  a  dream,  not 
a  distant  past,  but  still  part  of  myself  and  a  potent  fact  in 
my  active  labor  to-day.  For  here  I  was  born  into  the  minis- 
try, here  the  ordaining  hands  were  placed  upon  my  head,  as  I 
began,  all  young  and  inexperienced,  my  labors  as  your  pas- 
tor: and  I  feel  to-nightas  it'  coming  back  to  the  shrine  of  my 
hopes,  the  Mecca  of  my  life.  And  thus  the  occasion  to  me 
is  more  even  than  an  uplifting  memory,  it  is  the  voicing 
afresh  of  all  Grod  has  permitted  and  still  permits  me  to  be 
and  do  in  His  cause.  Here  sacred  friendships  began  winch 
can  only  become  more  enduring  as  time  passes  on  into  the 
sweet  by-and-by.  Still  do  I  share  the  charm  of  that  enthu- 
siastic devotion  you  accorded  me,  and  I  feel  yet  resting  upon 
me  the  indescribable  influence  of  a  church  life  rich  in  all  the 
(iospel  inheritance  of  a  worthy  and  exalted  past. 

This  old  church  did  well  its  part  in  the  formative  days 
of  our  country,  and  he  who  shares  in  any  degree  such  a  spec- 
ial church  inheritance  must  truly  be  blest.  The  two  things 
which  it  seems  to  me  are  most  significant  in  the  nearly  two 
centuries  gone,  since  the  organization  of  this  church,  are  the 
character  here  developed  and  the  vitality  of  faith  here  mani- 
fested. Thesemakethe  Newington  past  loom  up  in  grander 
proportions  the  more  it  is  studied,  as  they  must  ever  consti- 
tute the  substratum  of  all  other  controlling  facts  in  human 
destiny. 

I  hold  in  my  hands  a  very  precious  bundle  of  documents. 
They  are  the  letters,  papers  and  sermons  covering  my  invita- 
tion, call,  ordination  and  the  beginning  of  my  pastorate  here. 
I  cannot  read  them;  it  would  take  too  long.  Hut  what  hal- 
lowed scenes  nearly  or  quite  a  generation  ago  do  they  bring 
before  me,  for  they  relate  to  some  of  your  own  most  sacred 
history,  when  God  poured  out  Hi- spirit  in  reviving  power 
here,  and  gave  you  fresh  enthusiasm  for  His  work,  an  enthu- 
siasm still  marking  your  life  and  work  to-day.  I  was  in  no 
sense  a  creator  or  leader  in  that  revival.  But  a  student  in 
Yale    Theological     Seminary    and    supplying    the  pulpit,    1 


76  CONGREGATIONAL     CHURCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

preached  to  it  as  best  I  could  when,  after  my  first  appearance, 
it  had  grown  up  through  the  labors  of  the  evangelist,  Mr. 
Ross.     These  letters  cover  all  that  time. 

I  was  but  little  more  than  well  started  in  my  senior  year  in 
the  Seminary  when,Nov.  20. 1867,  a  letter  from  H.  M.  Robbins, 
then  head  society's  committee,  invited  me  to  supply  you  for 
a  couple  of  Sundays,  upon  the  recommendation,  unknown  to 
me,  of  Rev.  Wra,  R.  Eastman  of  Plantsville.  I  came  and 
continued  all  winter  with  you  and  during  the  revival,  until 
your  call  came  to  become  pastor,  with  the  added  wish,  ex- 
pressed on  your  part,  that  I  might  be  ordained  before  my 
Seminary  graduation,  so  as  to  receive  the  new  members  into 
the  church.  The  Seminary  granted  the  request  on  condi- 
tion that  I  remain  and  graduate  in  due  order,  which  condi- 
tion was  complied  with. 

Here  are  the  letters  conveying  that  call,  written  and 
signed  by  C.  K.  Atwood,  acting  for  the  church  and  also  its 
clerk,  and  by  Roger  Welles,  though  not  then  a  church  mem- 
ber, for  the  society.  They  refer  also  to  the  visit  to  my  room 
in  the  Seminary  by  Mr.  Atwood,  and  to  that  made  to  my 
home  by  himself  and  Jedediah  Deming.  then  not  deacon, 
but  one  of  the  special  committee  of  the  society  to  extend  to 
me  the  call. 

Among  the  other  papers  is  a  petition  signed  by  26 
young  men  not  in  the  church,  though  many  of  them  expect- 
ing soon  to  join  and  headed  by  Roger  Welles,  respectfully 
and  earnestly  asking  the  church  to  call  me.  When  I  saw- 
that  paper  I  confess  it  had  great  weight  with  me,  for  what 
young  man  would  not  be  moved  by  such  an  appeal  from 
young  men  like  himself  ? 

I  remember  well  my  first  sermon  here,  on  "  The  Miracu- 
lous Conversion  of  St.  Paul."  I  had  just  carefully  studied 
and  written  it  out  while  reading  Conybeare  and  Howson's 
"  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,"  though  without  any  thought 
or  knowledge  of  Newington.  It  was  a  kind  of  pet  child  to 
me,  for,  perhaps  like  other  students  in  such  things.  I  fancied 
it  eloquent.  And  so,  of  course,  I  came  and  delivered  it. 
But  whatever  its  real  merit,  I  have  ever  felt  that  it  struck  the 
key  note  of  my  ministry  here,  a  ministry  of  quickening  and 
conversion  and  all  else  built  up  upon  that  foundation,  and 
that  God's  hand  was  especially  in  it. 

What  an  ordination  that  was,  April  29,  1868  !  You  re- 
member that  Yale  and  Hartford  seminaries  in  those  days 
were  not  altogether  at  one,  any  more  than  were  the  cities 
of  New  Haven  and  Hartford  as  joint  capitals  of  the  State; 


NEWINGTON,     OONNEOTIOUT,      1897.  77 

and,  as]  thought  1  was  coming  among  the  Philistines,  [de- 
termined to  take  with  me  my  stalwart  leader  and  spirit  ual 
father  in  the  seminary,  Dr.  Bacon,  who  was  moderator  of  the 
council.    I  also  prepared  a  carefully- written  statement,  which 

was  a  new  departure  then.     ( )n  thai  council  were   Dr.  John 

Todd  of   Pittslield.    Mass..    son-in-law  of    Dr.  Brace   and  who 

preached  the  sermon;  Dr..  then  only  Rev.,  C.  L.  G-oodell,  of 

New  Britain,  who  gave  a  most  felicitous  charge  to  the  people 
in  the  course  of  which  he  admonished  them  to  let  me  "go  a- 
fishing,"  like  Peter  of  old,  if  I  wanted  to,  a  thinur  I  had 
never  done  in  my  life  and  had  no  thought  of  doing.  On  the 
council  were  also  Rev.  E.  C.  Jones  of  Southington.  who 
made  the  ordaining  prayer,  and  Rev.  J.  H.  Twichell  of  Hart- 
ford, who  gave  the  right  hand,  my  still  revered  friends; 
Revs.  S.  J.  Andrews  and  N.  C.  Adams;  also  Revs.  L.  H.  Hal- 
lock,  the  scribe,  Win.  R.  Eastman,  and  others  of  the  church- 
es and  region  around — the  whole  making  up  a  council  that 
ought  to  have  been  competent  to  put  any  man  into  oilice  ! 
Nor  can  I  soon  forgel  the  charge  to  the  pastor  by  Dr.  Bacon, 
or  that  ordination  dinner  at  Mr.  Belden's, when  Mrs.  Todd 
whispered  in  my  ear.  "Don't  let  them  sell  the  parsonage!" 

Here  is  a  quotation  from  Dr.  Todd's  letter  accepting  the 
invitation  to  preach  the  sermon: 

Some  days  before  you  wrote,  I  was  thinking  over  the  question,  "  Shall 
I  ever  visit  Newington  again, — tbat  place  associated  with  so  many  early  and 
dear  memories?"  And  I  said  to  myself,  "Probably  not,  probably  not.'' 
But  my  heart  was  so  drawn  that  way  that  your  request  tinils  me  more  than 
half  committed — so  (D.  V.  i,  I  will  endeavor  to  meet  your  wishes,  and  be- 
come acquainted  with  you  at  that  time. 

I  congratulate  you  on  going  to  that  most  lovely  valley  in  Connecticut, 
among  a  very  uncommon  people,  and  a  spot  which  the  Spirit  of  God  has  so 
often  visited  that  it  seems  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord.  Go  full  of  courage 
and  hope,  and  feel  that  it's  very  little  consequence  where  we  are,  as  to  use- 
fulness and  meeting  the  responsibilities  of  life. 

Dr.  Todd's  humor  came  out,  also,  in  tin1  council,  when, 
with  stern  and  unmoved  face,  hut  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye, 
he  asked  me.  "  Did  you  ever  know  a  perfect  man  ?"  "  Not  in 
Connecticut,"  I  replied;  "perhaps  he  may  live  up  in  Massa- 
chusetts."     The  doctor  seemed  satisfied. 

What  sacred  scenes  I  recall  a  little  later  !  The  first 
Sunday  of  my  pastorate,  24  precious  converts  were  received 
into  the  church,  ranging  themselves  before  the  old  pulpit,  in 
the  unaltered  audience  room,  or  at  least  unaltered  ;is  it  i> 
now.  with  only  two  aisles  and  body  and  wall  pews.  Many  of 
that  Dumber  are  still  among  you.  active  in  the  church  life, 
and  their  faces  1    love    still   to  erect.      In  my  pile  of  papers  is 


7-  CONGREGATIONAL     OHUBCH     ANNIVERSARIES, 

my  first  sermon  that  Sunday,  as  .pastor, from  the  text,  1  John, 
iii  14:  '"Hereby  know  we  that  we  have  passed  from  death 
unto  life,  because  we  love  the  brethren,"  and  I  remember 
how  I  prized  the  warm  commendation  of  the  sermon,  after  it 
was  over,  by  Dea.  L.  S.  Deming.  Then  came  the  funeral  of 
good  old  Dea.  Jedediah  Deming,  three  days  after  that  Sun- 
day, when  we  gathered  in  this  house,  and  I  preached  my 
first  funeral  sermon,  Mr.  Aiken  also  assisting  in  the  services. 
What  a  help  that  patriarch  deacon  had  been  in  preparing  the 
convert;  for  reception  into  the  church,  catching  his  death  by 
exposure  in  the  work !  And,  later,  the  stately  Gen.  Martin 
Kellogg  fell  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  87  years,  public  citizen  in 
thf  State,  and  respected  by  all.  He  also  was  brought  into 
this  house  to  be  buried,  Mr.  Aiken  preaching  the  discourse 
and  myself  assisting,  and  speaking  a  few  words  as  I  leaned 
over  and  looked  into  that  serene  face  before  me.  Often  did  I 
talk  with  him  on  religious  things.  He  was  a  true  Christian, 
mistrusting  himself  before  God,  yet,  as  he  told  me,  having 
family  prayers,  though  in  his  mistrust  not  feeling  worthy  to 
join  the  church. 

Then  came  the  third  of  September  communion,  follow- 
ing that  first  one  in  May,  and  18  more  were  received  into  the 
church,  with  the  name  of  Katie  Deming  heading  the  list, 
which  is  among  papers  preserved.  It  was  her  father,  then 
Dea.  L.  S.  Deming,  who,  by  letters,  also  in  my  pile,  kept  me 
informed  all  winter  of  the  progress  of  the  revival,  so  that  I 
was  enabled  to  shape  my  sermons  accordingly.  That,  too, 
was  the  Sunday  when  I  undertook  my  first  baptism  by  im- 
mersion, done  in  the  brook  by  Mr.  Kirkham's,  just  after 
Sunday  School.  It  had  rained  all  night,  the  stream  was 
swollen,  and  we  found  it  difficult  to  secure  a  good  standing 
place.  Whether  it  was  that  I  was  new  to  the  business  or  was 
not  a  born  Baptist  I  cannot  say,  but  somehow  it  was  very 
muddy  there,  and  I  found  myself  sinking  deeper  into  the 
mud  all  the  while,  until  I  could  hardly  move  or  stand  either, 
;iinl  came  very  near  going  under  myself.  I  would  in  no  wise 
belittle  that  sacred  service;  yet  it  was  an  induction  into  that 
part  of  my  duties  I  can  never  forget. 

Then'  what  a  glorious  Christmas  tree  we  had,  when  the 
church  was  trimmed,— the  first  thing  of  the  kind  in  the  old 
church,— and  some  dear  friends  were  afraid  we  were  turning 
Catholics.  And  thosenine  young  girls,  hardly  girls  either,  yet 
hardly  young  ladies.— standing  up  and  singing  in  front  of  the 
pulpit,  "  We  three  kings  of  Orient  are," — with  John  Stoddard 
playing  the  bass  viol  or  violoncello,  and  his  brother  Hudson 


NEWINOTON,     CONNECTICUT,     1897.  '■> 

also  helping  !  [  can  see  them  now  Alice,  Augusta,  Nellie, 
and  all  the  rest,  whom  I  thought  then  the  best  girls  a  minis- 
ter ever  had  for  parishioners.  Nor  am  I  inclined  to  doubt  it 
now. 

So  it  went.  There  was  the  festival  in  the  tent  for  rais- 
ing sonic  church  funds,  when  it  rained  all  the  while,  it 
seemed  to  be  a  kind  of  wet  Beason  while  I  was  there,  when 
the  minister  lost  his  clothes  basket  lie  had  brought  some 
things  in.  and  Looked  all  round  for  it.  only  to  find  at  last  that 
Charles  A.twood  had  appropriated  it.  It  might  be  interest- 
ing if  Mr.  Atwood  it  was  before  he  was  deacon,  I  am  glad 
to  say  would  read  the  poem  he  wrote  upon  the  incident, 
headed,  "  The  Minister's  Clothes  Basket." 

But  we  turn  from  these  lighter  scenes.  Then  were  put 
in  office  the  three  deacons  who  still  uphold  their  pastor's  hands 
efficiently,  faithfully,  as  his  officers,  Deacons  Charles  K.  At- 
wood, Jedediah  Deming,  and  Heman  A.  Whittlesey.  It  was 
not  so  easy  securing  them  cither,  feeling  as  they  did  their 
unworthiness  for  the  office.  They  wouldn't  accept  the 
office  at  first  and  declined  to  serve,  until  when,  seeing  the 
church  without  deacons,  and  beholding  their  pastor's  impa- 
tience, they  at  length  came  to  his  relief,  and  began  that  hon- 
orable service  which  still  makes  them  the  trusted  leaders  in 
the  same  office.  And  I  want  to  say  now,  that  those  same 
brethren  never  failed  their  young  pastor,  whenever,  in  his  un- 
tried ardor,  he  went  to  them  for  counsel  and  help.  They 
stayed  up  his  hands,  as  Aaron  and  Hur  the  hands  of  Moses, 
and  he  owes  them  still  an  unpaid  debt  of  gratitude. 

There  were  others  whose  names  come  before  me.  sisters 
as  well  as  brothers,  whose  love  was  dear  to  me.  and  not  all  of 
whom  are  still  here.  I  recall  the  Willards.  the  Robbinses, 
younu;  David,  the  quiet  hero,  as  it  always  seemed  to  me.  as 
well  as  his  mother  and  uncles,  the  KelloggS,  the  Beldens. 
Mrs.  Chauncey  Deming,  Mrs.  Dea.  Jedediah  Deming,  sr., 
Aunt  Hepsie  Stoddard,  good  old  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Latimer,  the 
Rockwells,  Wm.  Kirkham  and  wife,  Joseph  Francis,  the 
Browns,  and  so  on  to  the  end.  Their  bodies  may  be  gone, 
yet  their  presence  is  with  us.  present  in  the  forms  of  those 
who  bear  still  their  names,  whom,  known  as  their  children,  I 
still  esteem  as  friends,  present  in  the  same  life  and  spirit  of 
the  church,  which  makes  us  all  one  with  the  past,  yet  sharers 
in  the  present  and  models  for  the  future. 

Soon  came  to  me  the  call  away.  But  the  church  of  my 
first  love  still  remained  to  win  for  itself  a  yet  more  success- 
ful record.      For  as  I  look  at  this  old  house  in   its  tasteful 


80  CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH    ANNIVERSARIES, 

modern  setting,  and  see  this  host  of  young  people,  strangers 
almost  to  me,  save  as  I  see  their  fathers'  or  mothers'  eyes 
beaming  through  their  own,  and  remember  your  effective 
labors,  your  more  than  $1,000  benevolence  list  in  this  year 
book,  and  see  your  activities  in  Christian  Endeavor  and  Sun- 
day school  work,  I  feel  that  it  is  no  decrepit  and  worn-out 
past  that  is  yours,  but  that  you  were  never  so  well  equipped 
for  service  as  to-day. 

I  stood  once  in  the  quiet  cemetery  just  back  of  us,  and 
read  the  inscription  upon  Dr.  Brace's  monument,  so  beauti- 
fully referred  to  by  Dea.  L.  S.  Deming,  "  A  good  minister  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  and  I  said,  "  Let  that  be  my  motto,  and  let  me 
live  and  die  like  him,  a  worthy  exemplar  of  my  Master  and  a 
help  to  my  kind."  This  inspiration  I  drank  in  from  the 
beginning  here  in  my  ministry.  Here  affection  still  turns. 
Here  I  brought  my  young  wife  whom  you  took  so  warmly  to 
your  hearts.  A  certain  romance,  the  romance  of  youth,  gilds 
for  me  the  memory  of  this  old  place.  As  to-day  I  saw  the 
forms  moving  slower  and  the  lines  deepening  in  the  faces  of 
those  who  were  in  their  prime  when  I  first  came,  a  certain 
sadness  came  over  me,  and  I  felt  that  indeed  the  ties  of  earth 
must  soon  break.  Yet  while  these  guides  and  companions 
of  our  lives  still  linger  with  us,  we  may  cherish  them  and 
write  their  virtues  in  our  own  lives.  This  feeling  comes 
afresh  to  me  at  this  hour,— still  to  repeat  in  our  living  that 
of  those  who  once  wrought  and  toiled,  and  here  fell 
asleep  in  Jesus.  Wherever  my  steps  may  turn,  still  will  the 
memory  of  this  my  first  pastorate  remain  fresh  and  green. 
And  when  my  closing  hour  here  below  shall  come,  and  the 
light  of  earth  grow  dim  upon  my  sight,  I  would  yet  in  my 
fading  thoughts  breathe  a  prayer  for  the  church  and  parish 
of  my  early  love  and  choice,— dear  old  Newington. 


Old    Officers 

Deacons    of    the   Congregational   Church,   Newington. 

Cm  Kin      (  Ma;  \M/K1>      OOTOBBB      3,       1722. 


Birth 


Names 


Elected 


Term  Ended 


Remarks 


July  2:.,  L679 
Mar.  14,  1676 


Feb.10, 
Deo.  11. 
Dec.  25, 
Aug  19, 
Dec.  31, 
Feb. in. 
Apr.  7, 
Aug.  27, 
May  6, 
Sept.  7, 
July  27, 
Mar.  1!), 


1691 

1707 
1711 
1736 
172:1 
17  ts 
1753 
1772 
1783 
1790 
1787 
1822 


Oct  23,  1817 

Mar.  15,  1820 
Dec.  24,  1820 
Oct.  25,1823 
Mar.    7,  1829 


John  Deming 


Oct.     3,1722     May     1. 


Jabez  Whittlesey     Mar.       172G 

Josiah  Willanl  1741  Mar.    9, 

Joshua  A  minis        Apr.  20, 1757  Apr.  25, 

John  Camp  July   2,1701  July  27, 

Elisha  Stoddard      Aug.  14, 1782  July   2, 

Charles  Churchill    Aug. 81, 1786  Oct.  29, 

James  Wells  Aug.  5,  1790  Oct.  29, 

Daniel  Willanl  Fci».21,  1*03  Jan.  10, 

Levi  Deming  Oct  29, 1818  Jan.    1. 

Origen  Wells  Oct  29, 1818  Nov.29, 

Jedediah  Deming     July    1,  1*47  May    4, 

Jeremiah  Seymour  Nov.29, 1847  Apr.   1, 

Eufus  Stoddard        May    3,  1867  Jan.  30, 

Levi  S.  Deming       May   3, 1867  Apr. 

Jedediah  Deming  Feb.  6,  1870 
Charles  K.  Atwood  Mar.  6,  1870 
BemanA. Whittlesey  Mar  6,  1870 
Roger  Welles  Jan.   9,  1896 


1761 

1711  | 

1757 
1786 

17*2 
1790 
1802 
1818 
1817 
1847 
1847 
1868 
1867 
1870 

1869  i 


Died 

I.viiimn ed  to 

Bi  thlem 

Died 

Died 

Died 

Dud 

Died 

l;>  signed 

Died 

Died 

ljisigned 

Died 

Died 

Died 

Removed  to 

Middletown 


Congregational    Sunday    School.    Newington. 

Established     June     20,     1819. 

Superintendents. 


Term 

Names 

Elected 

End  ol  Term 

1  Year 

Dea.   Levi  Deming 

182(1 

1821 

13  Tears 

Daniel  Willanl 

1821 

1834 

5  Tears 

William   Deming 

1834 

• 

4  YearB 

I  >c  a.  (  hrigen  Wells 

1839 

1848 

4  Tears 

1  i.a.  Jedediah  1  leming 

1843 

1847 

11  Tears 

Dea.  Le\  i  8   Deming 

L847 

1858 

1  Tear 

MarCUS  W.   Stoddard 

1858 

L859 

5  Tears 

1  ira.  < lharles  K.  Atwood 

L859 

1864 

l   Tears 

Joseph  J.  Francis 

1864 

Dec 

.  31,   L868 

1   Tears 

Roger  w  elli  a 

Dec 

,   31,  1868 

Jan 

.     4,  1873 

7    Years 

John  S.   Kiikham 

Jan. 

4.   1*73 

Jan 

.     2,   isso 

Joshua  Belden 

Jan. 

2,   1880 

Note— The  dates  prior  to  L868  i"  the  above  Hal  are  approximate  onlj    In   Beveral 
instance-,  bul  are  believed  to  be  substantially  correct. 


Treasurers  of  the  Newington   Ecclesiastical  Society. 

Society     Incorporated     May,     1713. 


Term 

Names 

Elected 

Term  Ended 

9  Years 

Josiah  Willard 

Dec.     5, 

1748 

Mar. 

9, 

1757 

22  Years 

Robert  Wells 

June  20, 

1757 

Dec. 

6, 

1779 

8  Years 

Josiah  Willard 

Dec.     6, 

1779 

Dec. 

3, 

1787 

16  Years 

David  Lowrey 

Dec.     3, 

1787 

Feb. 

7, 

1803 

9  Years 

Levi  Lusk 

Feb.     7, 

1803 

Nov. 

2, 

1812 

14  Years 

Amos  Andrus 

Nov.    2, 

1812 

Feb. 

21, 

1826 

19  Years 

Roger  Welles 

April    3, 

1826 

Nov. 

4, 

1845 

28  Years 

John  M.  Belden 
Joshua  Belden 

Nov.     4, 
Nov.    4, 

1845 
1873 

Nov. 

4, 

1873 

Clerks    of   the    Ecclesiastical    Society. 


Term 


Names 


28  Years 

35 

tears 

7 

Years 

16 

Years 

9 

Years 

30 

Years 

1 

Year 

3 

Years 

2 

Years 

10  Years 

3 

Years 

7 

Years 

20  Years 

7  Years 

Josiah   Willard 
Robert  Wells 
Josiah  Willard 
Daniel  Willard,  Jr. 
James  Wells,  Jr. 
William  Deming 
John  M.  Belden 
William  Kirkham 
Jedediah  Deming,  Jr. 
Edwin  Welles 
John  G.  Stoddard 
Heman  A.  Whittlesey 
Roger  Welles 
Henry  L.  Kellogg,  Jr. 
Joseph  W.  Camp 


Elected 

Term  Ended 

Apri: 

5, 

1716 

Dec. 

3, 

1744 

Dec. 

3, 

1744 

Dec. 

6, 

1779 

Dec. 

6, 

1779 

Dec. 

19, 

1786 

Dec. 

19, 

1786 

Dec. 

6, 

1802 

Dec. 

6, 

1802 

Nov. 

4, 

1811 

Nov. 

4, 

1811 

Nov. 

2, 

1841 

Nov. 

2, 

1841 

Oct. 

1, 

1842 

Oct. 

1, 

1842 

Nov. 

4, 

1845 

Nov. 

4, 

1845 

Nov 

2, 

1847 

Nov. 

2, 

1847 

Nov. 

3, 

1857 

Nov. 

3, 

1857 

Nov. 

6, 

1860 

Nov. 

6, 

1860 

Nov. 

5, 

1867 

Nov. 

5, 

1867 

Oct. 

24, 

1887 

Oct. 

24, 

1887 

Nov. 

12, 

1894 

Nov. 

12, 

1894 

